The Rats of Rat Island

An island on the Aleutian archipelago named for the abundance of its unwelcome inhabitantsis the center of a planned extermination en masse. Rats invaded the island in the 18th century and have since stripped the island of much of its edible vegetation and avian populations. Birds have been all but eliminated from the rocky island and a disturbing silence has replaced them.

Scientists and naturalists are looking into plans to eliminate the explosively breeding rats, which have overtaken every corner of burrowing space on the island, by dropping pounds of anticoagulant rodenticides onto the island. The hope is that the immediate bounty will be feasted upon by the population. With the rats dead from poison, birds would once again be able to nest on the island.

This is not the first time this feat was to be attempted and it wouldn’t be the largest island eradicated of rats. 27,922-acre Campbell Island, NZ and Canada’s 8,080-acre Langara Island had their black rat populations eliminated. Rat Island is 6871 acres.

Rats are one of most successful species on the earth and their success mirrors their domestic partner, the human being. Like humans, rats are able to adapt to almost every type of environment and their omnivorous behavior allows them to take advantage of a variety of different feeding opportunities. They are locally responsible for massive avian and reptilian extinctions, hunting ground nests relentlessly.

While rats will never become endangered and their habitat(s) will never be threatened, poaching rats will never be a sensitive issue to most. Early rat exterminators in New York were looked upon with admiration from its citizens. The introduction of the rats to this particular island was done by rats spilling off of ships anchored nearby. Playing God is easy with such a vile critter, and it comes with the benefit of creating breeding grounds for rarer and more pleasant creatures from the animal kingdom.

In our attempt to regulate animal traffic however, I think it’s important to regard our own culpability with more disdain. After all, wasn’t it our presence, behavior and habitats that have made the rat so successful? If it wasn’t for increased human traffic starting in the Middle Ages, Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus would never be as prevalent as they are today. All rat problems are fornlorn unless preventative measures are taken. It would be foolhardy to think that this elimination attempt would be a permanent fix for the rats on Rat Island, even if the plan works to a T.