The world's largest rat killing campaign on the British island

The world's largest rat-killing campaign has completely eradicated rats and mice from South Georgia in the South Atlantic.

South Georgia, Britain's overseas territory in the south Atlantic, was the first to miss mice since humans settled on the island 200 years ago, Fox News reported yesterday. This invasive species devastates bird populations in remote islands, even threatening many of the island's endemic species.

South Georgia Island is about 1,287km southwest of the Falkland Islands. The South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) charity in Scotland and Friends of South Georgia Island in the United States raised $ 13.6 million to fund the project. The scale-killing campaign on 1,087 km ² started in 2011.

The scale-killing campaign on 1,087 km ² started in 2011.

First, two pilots spray 55 tons of baits soaked in rat poison on the island."Only the first batch of baits, completed in 28 days in the harsh conditions of the sub-Antarctic region, turned this project into the largest rat killing campaign conducted in the world," the organization said. .

The second phase began in 2013, using three helicopters to spread 173 tons of baits. The 25-member expedition called "Team Rat" , including pilots, engineers, cooks, doctors and field officials, also participated in this phase.

Two years later, experts returned to the island to spray 105 tons of baits with three helicopters. The comprehensive follow-up survey started in 2017 with more than 4,600 devices used to detect mouse traces."From the last spread of the baits in 2015 - 2016, the team did not find any traces of mice and some bird species showing signs of significant recovery, but a comprehensive survey is still needed before the island has can be officially confirmed with no mouse, " shared the organization.

The team spent six months in South Georgia last winter, using three sniffing professional dogs to track mice. The dogs went for a total of 2,430km and the two managers crossed the 1,600km route during the search for the mouse.