South Georgia rat cull

[Horwood Beer-Master]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21629737

An "alien invader" eradication scheme of unprecedented scope will resume on Friday on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia.

Three former air ambulance helicopters will begin dropping 100 million poisonous pellets in a bid to eradicate brown rats from the island.

The rats, which first arrived in the 18th Century as stowaways on sealing ships, are a threat to native species.

The three-month mission is the second phase of a four-year project.

The first phase saw successful extermination of brown rats from a much smaller portion of South Georgia in 2011; the second aims to clear more than half of the remaining area.

Brown rats are an "invasive species" in South Georgia, and with no natural predators on the island the population exploded soon after their arrival.

Now their appetite for the eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds such as the South Georgia pipit and pintail is threatening the survival of these endemic species.

The helicopters will criss-cross the island, distributing the bait pellets with mathematical precision to cover each and every square metre.

Every single rat must be eradicated for the programme to be a success, said project leader Prof Tony Martin from the University of Dundee, who spoke to BBC News before setting off.

"Killing 99.999% is a failure. If we don't get every last one, we may as well not have gone there in the first place," he said.

"We have to eradicate, not control, them."

Clearing an entire island of an invasive species is hugely ambitious but the terrain of South Georgia allows the team to work in stages. Glaciers, which the rodents will not travel across, cover much of the island - meaning that the rat colonies live in isolated pockets and can be tackled separately.

But time is of the essence. The glaciers are retreating and if the separate colonies are allowed to mingle, eradication will become much more difficult.

So far Prof Martin's team have faced gale-force winds and blizzards, but with the weather improving they are reported to be ready to resume the largest-ever species eradication project.

I think the most amazing thing about this story is that Argentine President Cristina Kirchner hasn't yet waded-in to explain how this scheme is clearly the most blatant act of naked imperialism since the Nineteenth Century; and that these supposed alien rats have in fact been proud Argentine citizens ever since Argentina was created as a sovereign state by Pope Alexander VI on the 21st of October 4004 BC (two days before his Papal Envoy Yahweh created the rest of the world, and around four-and-a-half millennia before the English people were created - by Satan).

[klr]

In a couple of months time, I expect stories to break about rat meat in burgers.

Anyway, I hope the cull succeeds.

[Callan]

In a couple of months time, I expect stories to break about rat meat in burgers.

Anyway, I hope the cull succeeds.

[JimC]

As a Ratz, fuck the rats!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Those Georgia rats really knock me out."

[klr]

"Those Georgia rats really knock me out."

Shouldn't they be always on your m-m-m-ind?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Those Georgia rats really knock me out."

Shouldn't they be always on your m-m-m-ind?

Or on my h-h-h-head. (The little one.)

[Horwood Beer-Master]

We're doing it for the adorable flesh-eating ducks!

[klr]

... and the penguins:

[Gawdzilla Sama]

... and the penguins:

Needs fangs.

[klr]

Rockhoppers don't need fangs. They're mean enough as it is.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Rockhoppers don't need fangs. They're mean enough as it is.

Punt.