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Abstract
The 2019 rodent eradication on 1,455-ha Lord Howe Island, Australia, was the second and largest attempted on a permanently inhabited island. With 445 residents, it presented numerous novel challenges, resulting in an operation best summarized in 4 words: compromise, commensal, complexity, and cost. A ground-based operation was conducted across the inhabited portion of the island, some 300 ha known as the “settlement,” with aerial bait applied on forested hill country and cliffs (1,200 ha). Initial community resistance and the presence of mice (Mus musculus) meant that almost 19,000 external bait stations were established within the settlement, on a 10-m grid. The intensive grid was expected to result in numerous bait stations within each rat (Rattus rattus) home range. An additional 3,500 internal bait stations were put in all buildings, and 9,500 hand-broadcast points overlapped the aerial and bait station boundaries. Over 60 field staff were employed locally, from Australia and overseas, to run the toxic baiting operation for 5.3 months. Resistance from a small community group resulted in 2 legal challenges early in the operational stage, including one in the Australian Supreme Court. Additional complications included initial active opposition to private land access, the need for careful team selection when entering private land to avoid conflict, resistance to livestock removal requiring novel bait station infrastructure, possible significant bait loss to invertebrates, along with a small proportion of rats apparently avoiding bait stations. A fundamental aim of future operations on inhabited islands should be that they are community-led, which is likely to take several years to mature to the operational stage. Eradication practitioners should prepare for a significantly more complex operation with a concomitant increase in resourcing and planning.
Recommended Citation
Harper, Grant A.; Pahor, Simon; Harrington, Kelly; Matassoni, Darcelle; and Birch, Darryl
(2023)
"The Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication: Social and Technical Lessons for Inhabited Islands,"
Human–Wildlife Interactions: Vol. 17:
Iss.
2, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26077/7275-758d
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/hwi/vol17/iss2/4