An international team has been in Anguilla’ to work on a rat eradication project atDogIslandin order to protect the eggs and chicks of some two hundred thousand nesting seabirds there.
The organisations which partnered in the project were the Anguilla National Trust, the Department of the Environment, Fauna & Flora International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Funding in the sum of some half a million US dollars was provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Disney Word-wide Conservation Fund, Fauna & Flora International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. There has also been additional support from persons inAnguillaand the team of international volunteers.
Permission to enterDogIsland, and to undertake the restoration work, was obtained from the Anguilla Development Company, owner of the offshore cay.
Team Leader Elizabeth Bell, of New Zealand, told The Anguillian that the National Trust had embarked on the exciting projectto restore Dog Island, and she was more than happy to apply to be involved in the rat eradication and restoration work.She said the black rats, originally from Asia, were eating not only the eggs and chickens, but even adult birds as well, thus reducing the number of seabirds on the island.
Asked about the method of eradicating the rats, Ms. Bell explained: “We got tracks cut by an Anguillian, 30-40 metres across the island, and then we went along and put down poisoned bait. So we had 17,000 bait stations and a team of extremely good and capable volunteers helped us do all the work.” She estimated that there might have been over 2,000 rats onDogIslandand that her team had disposed of many dead rats.
According to Ms. Bell, many species of birds migrate toDogIsland, from various parts of the world, to breed during certain periods of the year. The birds include Sooty Terns, Brown Boobies, Masked Boobies, Audubon Shearwaters, Magnificent Frigates, Brown Noddies and Bridled Terms.
In addition to the bird population, there are five species of lizards onDogIslandand the surrounding waters abound with Green, Hawksbill and Leatherback Turtles.
“We are trying to restore all of the eco-systems to get them back to the natural way they were before all the horrible creatures, like rats and mice, got there, and to get the insects, lizards, birds and the plants back. Rats, unfortunately, eat all of them and suppress the environment,” she said.
Dr. Jenny Daltry, Senior Conservation Biologist with Fauna & Flora International, also spoke to The Anguillian. A few years ago she visitedAnguillaand met with Farah Mukhida, Executive Director of the National Trust, and Rhon Connor,of the Department of the Environment. One of the things they wanted to do, over the next few years, was to restoreDogIslandas it was the biggest offshore island, and was important toAnguillaas a habitat for turtles, seabirds and other wildlife. According to her, there was a feasibility study to eradicate rats from the island, but no funding resources and volunteers were available.
Dr. Daltry, whose organisation’s headquarters are based inCambridge,England,but works in 40 or 50 countries, was pleased that her role was to work with various organisations to obtain the necessary funding and to get the volunteers. Among them who were onDogIsland, was Chris Clarke who, like Elizabeth Bell, is a rat eradication volunteer.
The Conservation Biologist said that, in terms of real cash, funding for the restoration work amounted to a quarter of a million US dollars to pay for food, boats, accommodation and other expenses. In addition, almost an equal amount, or more, was contributed in kind in terms of time given by the volunteers, who worked very hard, but were not paid, as well as a lot of support from the Anguillian public.
“DogIslandis not only of national importance. It is globally important,” Dr. Daltry commented.“There are species on the island which are very rare. There are nesting turtles and very important populations of seabirds. By restoring the island, and making it as good as possible for wildlife,Anguillais making a global contribution. It is really a significant site and organisations from overseas are concerned about this area and want to help.”
Farah Mukhida said that in 2007 the National Trust worked with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and the Government of Anguilla, to do a feasibility study to eradiate the rats onDogIsland. She was pleased that the money was raised to implement the study and that the restoration work had now taken place.
