South Georgia rat eradication mission sets sail

[klr]

A team sets out on Saturday on the final leg of a mission to eradicate rats from the island of South Georgia, with the aim of "reclaiming the island for its seabirds".

Their ship, loaded with three helicopters and almost 100 tonnes of poisoned rat bait, sets sail from the Falkland Islands.

The project has been under way for more than five years. This is the last of three bait-spreading stages.

It is led by the South Georgia Heritage Trust.

South Georgia is a UK overseas territory at the southern end of the South Atlantic. It will take the team three to four days of sailing to reach the island, and - weather permitting - they will start spreading bait around 15 February.

Project leader Professor Tony Martin from the University of Dundee described South Georgia as a "magical piece of UK territory".

"It's home to to a great wealth of wildlife that exploits the hugely productive seas," he explained.

"[But] man came along some 200 years ago and messed it up by bringing rats and mice."

The native wildlife includes vast seal and king penguin colonies, which feed from the cold, rich seas.

King penguins are too large to be attacked by rats, but many seabirds have suffered badly since the invasion.

Species including the wandering albatross, which has the largest wing span of any bird, have their ground nests raided.

Prof Martin said that the diminutive Wilson's storm petrel had been almost totally wiped out. "These birds only live on off-shore islands that are acting as lifeboats," he said.

"Many seabirds have no defence against marauding rats that eat their chicks and eggs."

Race against time

The team estimates that rats have wiped out more than 90% of the seabirds on South Georgia

But the vast glaciers that segment the landscape, which the rats cannot cross, have allowed the team to carry out a three-phase extermination project.

The first part was completed in 2011, and involved rat bait being spread throughout the central north coast - an area of 120 square kilometres.

Each bait pellet is a lethal dose for a rat. Prof Martin said that, unfortunately, the bait also killed some seabirds. But the team has carefully worked out that those losses are sustainable. While the seabird population "bounces back", Prof Martin said, the rats do not.
...

continued: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30922255

[piscator]

Whalers. Shackleton didn't bring any rats with him when he visited South Georgia, so it was the whalers.

[JimC]

Whalers. Shackleton didn't bring any rats with him when he visited South Georgia, so it was the whalers.

Any sailing ship of the time was infested by rats, which could have easily jumped ship when moored...

[piscator]

...Steamers too. But previous to Grytviken in 1904 (a scant 10 years before Shackleton first paid his respects), there was no place to moor a boat connected to South Georgia Island.

A rat is about as inclined to leave a ship and jump in the frigid Southern Ocean as you or I, and about as able to survive the swim to shore. A bunch of whalers are about as likely to hire another ship to pack their supplies when they already have whaling ships as a bunch of Gypsies with empty wagons of their own.

Twas indeed the nasty whalers who introduced the nasty rat to South Georgia Island.

[mistermack]

They could easily get carried ashore by the seamen.
A female could easily hide unseen in a box of supplies, in a nest with half a dozen young.

They must be bloody tough to survive the winter though.

[piscator]

Those seamen were whalers. No one was landing anything on South Georgia until the whalers showed up with their rats and immediately started to violate the place.

[mistermack]

Yeh, the whaling station is absolutely custom made to give rats a start in life.

Hard working men, no women, nobody cared about rats. They were probably sleeping with the fuckers keeping their feet warm. And food lying about everywhere.

In Gloucester, years ago, when I were a lad, there was a rendering factory at the end of Westgate Street. It stunk. Constantly. It was a phenomenon called the Westgate smell. We used to call it the glue works, or the fat works, and you had to hold your breath when you passed that area.

My brother went in there once, installing air ducting. He said that the rats were as big as cats, and wouldn't move if you went near them. They just sat on top of the piles of rancid meat and bone, staring at you.

He said he watched a black guy shoveling the stuff into the fire. One pile had a huge rat sat on it.
He just shoveled it up, rat and all, and the rat didn't attempt to move. Into the fire it went, and there was just a quick squeak, then nothing. The guy doing the shoveling didn't even pause.

[piscator]

"Thus passed Ratthrik CMXII, the 1139th Ruling Steward of the Gutpile..."

[mistermack]

A great lump of lard, too fat and lazy to even move to save it's own life.

They don't all live in Texas.

[piscator]

Whalers are basically floating rendering plants...

[mistermack]

I saw a documentary on the South Georgia whaling station not long ago. Can't remember what it was called. The stuff is all still there, even cups and mugs, photos etc still on the walls.
Like they just left. I believe it was run by Norwegian whalers.
This isn't it, but it's the same place :

[klr]

Yup, there were several whaling stations, all on the North East side. Grytviken and Stromness come to mind, because of their association with Shackleton. Grytviken was the last port of call for the Endurance, and Stromness was where Shackleton finally made contact again with the outside world nearly 2 years later. He is buried near Grytviken.