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The Amazing Recovery Story Of “Rat Island”

The nesting seabirds have returned to Howadax Island after a coordinated conservation effort led to the removal of invasive rats.

In Alaska’s Aleutian archipelago, there is a group of islands that are called the “Rat Islands”. They were given this name by Captain Fyodor Petrovich Litke, in 1827, when he visited the Aleutian Islands on a voyage around the world. The non-native rats were accidentally introduced to these islands through shipwrecks, dating back to the 1700s, and World War II occupation.

These rats adapted well to life on these islands and they overwhelmed the ecosystems. The rats preyed upon shorebird eggs and chicks, and they nearly wiped out the island’s breeding shorebird population. These birds consume invertebrates, such as snails and limpets. Without the birds, these plant-eaters flourished and the abundance of marine kelp was seriously impacted.

Of the 15 islands in this Rat Islands group, Howadax Island was selected as a study site for this conservation project. In 2008, members of the Aleutian Seabird Restoration Project worked to reverse the damage by ridding the island of rats.

Special rodent baits were dropped on the island from a helicopter. The baits were formulated to be palatable for about two weeks, so as to lessen the probability of non-target poisoning. The treatment was successful and the island was officially declared as rat-free in 2010.

Researchers returned to the island to collect data in 2013, and found the numbers of birds to be significantly higher. In 2019, the researchers declared that the island’s ecosystem had fully recovered. They saw a significant increase in marine kelp, the numbers of plant eaters had greatly decreased, and the numbers of birds had increased significantly. “We were surprised that the level of recovery unfolded so quickly – we thought it could take longer,” said Carolyn Kurle, associate professor from UC San Diego.

This is great news and I’m proud that our pest control industry was able to help make this conservation effort a success.