Ridding South Georgia of reindeer and rats

[Malcolm Ogilvie]

I've just been reading a terrific book called 'Reclaiming South Georgia", subtitled "The
defeat of furry invaders on a sub-Antarctic island". Following hard on the heels of the
eradication of over 3,000 introduced reindeer which were devasting the vegetation of this
unique island environment, this book relates how an amazing project, just ended, has
exterminated the widespread rat population despite the enormously challenging conditions
of stormy weather, mountainous terrain and glaciers. Many of the vulnerable seabird
species have only been able to breed on a handful of rat-free islands of the main island
because of the rats. Now, they will be able to spread back and re-colonise their former
ranges.

This is yet another classic example of how man has introduced non-native and highly
invasive species into new areas where they have done massive damage to the native fauna
and flora. And now it is a tremendously cheering example of how this can be reversed by
the removal of the invaders so that the native species can recover.

Even the nuttier animal rightists have kept pretty quiet about this great success story.

Malcolm