42 Tons of Poison to be Dropped on Rat-Infested Island

Lord Howe Island, an idyllic island 500 miles off the coast of Australia, has a rat problem. Black rats, introduced in 1918, are wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem, forcing several species onto the endangered species list or into extinction. Fear not, because officials are on top of the problem– oh, what?! They want to sequester all the local species in cages for 100 days while they cover the island in rat poison? You must be kidding.

The plan is as follows: All local wildlife will be captured and kept in cages. Cattle and chickens will be either shipped off or slaughtered. The 350 residents of Howe island will be given muzzles for their pets, and told to be careful. Then the island will be bombarded with poison TWICE on day 1 and day 15. Then, after 100 days, the poison is “expected to become harmless” and everyone will be free to do what they want.

There are many many problems with this approach. First of all, gathering up every single member of species, even on a small island, is a task of biblical proportions. Secondly, what about all the insects?! There are several insect species that are endangered or near extinction, and 84,000 pounds of poison may have an affect on the local bug population. Even if the poison doesn’t directly effect the bugs, what happens when insects, bacteria, fungi, and other animals eat the thousands of poisoned rat bodies? Won’t this have some sort of long-term effect on poison concentrations in the population? Haven’t we learned from Silent Spring? This whole idea just boggles my mind.

Nonetheless, the problem needs to be taken care of. What can be done? Several commenters though that the best idea would be to provide financial incentive for residents to kill rats; as rats got rarer and rarer, the money given per rat would increase, thus ensuring that every rat would be caught. Others suggested that the government should release a swath of spayed cats to eat the rats of the island (but won’t they eat the birds?).

[The Independent] via [Mother Nature Network]