Authorities launch biggest ever rat kill to protect unique native species
Like 1 Dislike 0 Published on 31 Jul 2015
(21 Nov 2012)
Pinzon Island, Ecuador - 17 November 2012
1. Wide of helicopter flying over Pinzon Island with rat poison being carried in container below
2. Various of helicopter
3. Wide of helicopter approaching ocean heliport to pick up rat poison
Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador - 19 November 2012
4. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Edwin Naula, Director of the National Galapagos Park:
"The most effective methodology to extinguish 100 percent of the rat population is the aerial application of poison as doing it normally with people on the ground would take more than 5 years."
Pinzon Island, Ecuador - 17 November 2012
5. Mid of helicopter hovering near heliport to pick up rat poison
6. Various of container being filled with rat poison
7. Close-up of blue, poison pellets in container
Santa Cruz Island, Ecuador - 19 November 2012
8. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Edwin Naula, Director of the National Galapagos Park:
"We estimate that we'll be able to eradicate a population of 25,000 rats that were introduced to Pinzon Island and this is data that we've estimated based on previous monitoring, but it could be higher."
Pinzon Island, Ecuador - 17 November 2012
9. Mid from worker to container used to drop poison
10. Mid of workers moving packets of poison
11. Mid of worker next to distribution container
12. Wide of helicopter flying over island carrying container with poison below
STORYLINE
Ecuadorean authorities have begun the second phase of an airborne campaign to wipe out hundreds of (m) millions of non-native rodents from the archipelago that helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Phase two of the operation started earlier this month when nearly 22 tons of specially designed poison bait were dropped from a helicopter over Pinzon Island in the Galapagos archipelago.
Pinzon Island is about seven square miles (1,812 hectares) in area.
"The most effective methodology to extinguish 100 percent of the rat population is the aerial application of poison as doing it normally with people on the ground would take more than five years," said Edwin Naula, Director of the National Galapagos Park.
"We estimate that we'll be able to eradicate a population of 25,000 rats that were introduced to Pinzon Island and this is data that we've estimated based on previous monitoring, but it could be higher."
The invasive Norway and black rats, introduced by whalers and buccaneers beginning in the 17th century, feed on the eggs and hatchlings of the islands' native species, which include giant tortoises, lava lizards, snakes, hawks and iguanas.
Rats also have depleted plants on which native species feed.
The rats have critically endangered bird species on the 19-island cluster 600 miles (1,000 kilometres) from Ecuador's coast.
The first phase of the anti-rat campaign began in January 2011 on Rabida Island and about a dozen islets, which like Pinzon, are also uninhabited by humans.
The goal is to kill off all non-native rodents, beginning with the smaller Galapagos' islands, without endangering other wildlife.
The islands where humans reside, Isabela and Santa Cruz, will be bombarded last.
Previous efforts to eradicate invasive species have removed goats, cats, burros (small donkeys) and pigs from various islands.
The rat infestation has now reached one animal per square foot (around 10 per square metre) on Pinzon, where an estimated 180 (m) million rodents reside.
The 1.8 (m) million US dollar operation is considered the largest ever launched in South America.
The poisoned bait, developed by Bell Laboratories in the United States, is contained in light blue cubes that attract rats but are repulsive to other inhabitants of the islands.
The one-centimetre-square cubes disintegrate in a week or so.
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