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Liz Wren (Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service) writing in the latest issue of the Australian Antarctic Magazine has good news on the situation on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island where the efforts to eradicate its introduced mammals continue to be on track.

"More than one year after aerial baiting to rid Macquarie Island of its destructive rabbits, rats and mice, there are encouraging signs that the eradication effort has been successful."

The last live rabbits seen by field teams of the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project (MIPEP) teams were killed over a year ago, in November 2011, and it is now thought there are less than five left on the island.  "The last rabbits killed were a doe and kittens, but the father of that litter has not been located".  No rats or mice have been seen since the poison bait drop was completed in July 2011, a year and half ago.

The island's vegetation (notably its "megaherbs") is recovering, burrowing petrels are returning and breeding well (including the ACAP-listed Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea) and signs of invertebrates becoming more abundant have also been noticed.

Benefiting from MIPEP: a  Grey Petrel chick on Macquarie

You can follow the fortunes of the rabbit-hunting dog teams on Macca in This week at Macquarie Island.

Next month two new dogs will arrive on the island, this time trained to sniff out rodents.  "To implement this work, two of the New Zealand's Department of Conservation's foremost rodent dog handlers will join the 2013 team, together with their certified rodent detection dogs. They have many years of experience between them in searching islands for rodent presence after an eradication program, from Raoul Island in the sub-tropical Kermadec Islands, to sub-Antarctic Campbell Island."

As a precautionary measure hand baiting for rats and mice around station buildings and field huts and in coastal caves is continuing.  Success of MIPEP, at least in respect of the removal of rodents, will be declared if none has been seen once two years have elapsed - in half a year's time.  Here's hoping!

Click here to access the Macquarie Dispatch, newsletter of the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project.  No. 12 of January 2013  is now available, as are all earlier issues.

Reference:

Wren, L. 2012. A brave new world as Macquarie Island moves towards recovery.  Australian Antarctic Magazine 23: 12-13.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 January 2013