California to kill rats on Farallon Islands

[sailingabe41ds]

According to the San Francisco Chronical the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco are infested with rats affecting the bird popullation so the coastal commission approved to drop three thousand pounds of rat killing poison on the islands.
Save the rats I say...they have right to life too...
Hope the birds dont eat the rats.
Abe

[gamayun]

It's not rats, it's mice and they eat everything in sight and then over populate, then the numbers crash and when burrowing owls runout of mice, they eat the baby seabirds. It's complicated, but the simple fact is, we humans have made a mess of island ecosystems when we bring in invasive species and think it's just no big deal. Just live and let live, right?

And yes, it's unfortunate but some seagulls are likely going to die too from eating the poison.

[sailingabe41ds]

Same thing happened in the Channel Islands So Cal. Except there the interactiin was between wild pigs...eagles...and island foxes.
Sollution...pigs got slauttered (hunted)...foxes won.
Now you can see the little foxes everywhere...rarely saw them in the 80s and early 90s.

abe

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by sailingabe41ds

Same thing happened in the Channel Islands So Cal. Except there the interactiin was between wild pigs...eagles...and island foxes.
Sollution...pigs got slauttered (hunted)...foxes won.
Now you can see the little foxes everywhere...rarely saw them in the 80s and early 90s.

abe

You confuse me. You're OK with slaughtering pigs to save foxes but not with poisoning rats/mice to save birds and endemic crickets?

[Compass790]

I dont know the situation on the Farallons but here in New Zealand it's a standard practice to poison rodents & introduced animals on conservation islands. Brodifacoum is the most common poison used against rats AFAIK
Seems to work well, you can definitely notice the difference in the birdsong anchoring at one of the islands that has been pest free for a while.
Locally, on the mainland, there is a lot of action being undertaken to trap & poison rats & possums to increase native bird numbers.

[jimbunyard]

Originally Posted by gamayun

...when we bring in invasive species ...

Let's rephrase that --- we are the invasive species...

[Compass790]

Originally Posted by jimbunyard

Let's rephrase that --- we are the invasive species...

Too right!

[Don C L]

On Anacapa island it was rats. The National Park Service eradicated them and it has been a big success for the native fauna. Here it is:
https://www.nps.gov/chis/learn/natur...rd-habitat.htm

[sailingabe41ds]

Originally Posted by gamayun

You confuse me. You're OK with slaughtering pigs to save foxes but not with poisoning rats/mice to save birds and endemic crickets?

I guess people today do not have a sense of humor nor understand sarcasm....i dont givre a rats a** about those mice if it saves the native birds. Hope that clarrifies things. More important question is what took the coastal commission so long?

abe

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by sailingabe41ds

Same thing happened in the Channel Islands So Cal. Except there the interactiin was between wild pigs...eagles...and island foxes.
Sollution...pigs got slauttered (hunted)...foxes won.
Now you can see the little foxes everywhere...rarely saw them in the 80s and early 90s.

abe

Yes, actually it was the Golden Eagles that had moved in when the Bald Eagles disappeared after DDT got them all. Golden Eagles preyed on all the foxes that had never known predators. Golden Eagles were removed, Bald Eagles returned. Bald Eagles eat only fish and keep the Goldens away, and now foxes are recovering. The pigs, well, they were introduced a couple hundred years ago and everyone hated them except for the occasional sport hunting group. They really tore up the islands, along with the feral sheep. And those pigs were mean! You never wanted to face a big boar. I saw them eating mussels off the rocks at low tide and just crunching the shells! Now that they are gone it is amazing to see the recovery of all native plants and animals.

[George DuBose]

Actually, I don't like the idea of dropping tons of poison anywhere.

Check this video:
Maremma Dogs | www.warrnamboolpenguins.com.au

or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDDUclGt6g8

[KenKo]

I have what I intend to be an innocent question stimulated by this discussion. Why are we (humans) not part of the natural world? Admittedly, our "constructions" are more elaborate than those of animals (although those of social insects (bees, ants, termites etc.) are pretty elaborate given the size of the builders) aren't we still part of the world? We do have a lot of impact on the environment, but so do beavers on a more local scale.I'd be interested in your take on this.

[disputin]

I actually read a fascnating article about this several years ago. They don't drop tons of poison on the island. They drop tons of poisoned grain on the island. The amount of poison in the grain is minute. While there may be some native seabirds that are briefly impacted. Removing the rodents from the island is a huge improvement to seabirds species health.


The group that was doing this (I don't remember who) was doing great until they got to the Farallon and some locals freaked out about the "poor" rodents and the program halted.


I'm glad to see they are trying again.


Sean

[Pillroller]

3,000 lbs seem an inordinate quantity of poison. How big are these islands? Did Macys have a big discount going on rat poison?

[jimbunyard]

Originally Posted by KenKo

I have what I intend to be an innocent question stimulated by this discussion. Why are we (humans) not part of the natural world? Admittedly, our "constructions" are more elaborate than those of animals (although those of social insects (bees, ants, termites etc.) are pretty elaborate given the size of the builders) aren't we still part of the world? We do have a lot of impact on the environment, but so do beavers on a more local scale.I'd be interested in your take on this.

Because. depending on one's perspective, 'humans' left the natural world either 100, 200, or between (roughly) 10-20,000 years ago, when they decided that natural law didn't apply to them.

When beavers overpopulate their habitat, they don't take the rest of the world's macroscopic life down with them.