Gough Island Mice Still At Large: Ambitious Plan to Eradicate Fails, Endangers Seabirds

An ambitious plan to eradicate the pestering mice from Gough Island --a small remote island in the South Atlantic- has broken the heart of officials after failing to answer the problem. Footage from camera traps shows that at least one mouse has managed to survive officials' hugely complex eradication effort.

It is believed that sailors first introduced rodents to the island in the 19th century. Since then, the mice have been feeding on eggs and chicks of seabirds. Millions of sea birds nest on remote islands, but the invasive mice species have had a growing impact on the number of birds.

Andrew Callender, a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds tells BBC News that they have a presumption that where one mouse is seen more of them are likely to still be in hiding. Adding that the mice presence is an indication that the project was not able to successfully execute its primary goal.

Mice Infestation on Gough Island

(Photo: Pixabay from Pexels)

Callendar has been an overseer of the project for over three years, saying that the team was heartbroken and devastated at the sight of one mouse. Efforts are now being made to quantify how many of the mice survived and how big of a threat they are.

According to The Project, Gough Island is a remote uninhabited island in the archipelago of Tristan da Cunha, in the South Atlantic Ocean roughly 1,500 miles from Cape Town. It has always been a land free from predators, which has made it an idyllic nesting ground for millions of seabirds.

Until the accidental introduction of mice several hundreds of years ago, the islands hosted no mammals and served as a safe place for endangered species such as the Tristan albatross and the MacGillvray's prion to breed and nest.

Callendar explains that the seabirds have not evolved defenses against mammalian predators. When the birds' eggs hatch, they are often killed by mice within hours.

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Eradication Efforts of Invasive Mice on Gough Island

During the winter in the southern hemisphere of 2021, a complex mice eradication program was set, with some equating the conservation efforts to the Moon Landing project. Participants reached Gough Island after traveling for a week by boat from South Africa during treacherous conditions. On the days the weather cleared, they flew helicopters to target the mice and scatter poison across the island's surface, reports the Independent.

With the entire project costing roughly more than 9 million pounds, the aim was that it would be a one-time effort to turn the clock back and eliminate the invasive mice once and for all. Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as the conservationists hoped. Camera trap videos showed that at least one mouse was able to survive the large-scale effort. The team is taking it as a sign that more may have evaded the poison and they may proliferate once again.