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UPDATE: click here  for more news on this story

In a paper published in the July issue of Ibis, the International Journal of Avian Science, Geoff Hilton and Richard Cuthbert review the impacts of introduced mammalian predators on UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs), most of which are oceanic islands.

They conclude that the highest priority for action is Gough Island, part of the Tristan da Cunha Group in the South Atlantic, where introduced House Mice Mus musculus continue to threaten the Critically Endangered and ACAP-listed Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena.

The paper concludes that "technical, financial and political will is required to push forward and fund the eradication of invasive mammalian predators" on selected islands in UKOTs, including from Gough.

Search on "Tristan Albatross" on this web site to read a number of earlier stories addressing the plight of the Tristan Albatross.  Click here to find the review of impacts study (Angel & Cooper 2006) and the eradication feasibility study (Parkes 2008) for Gough's mice.

Reference:

HILTON, G.M. & CUTHBERT, R.J. 2010. The catastrophic impact of invasive mammalian predators on birds of the UK Overseas Territories: a review and synthesis.  Ibis 152: 443-458. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/123526845/PDFSTART.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 2 July 2010, updated 14 July 2010