Moving on from the Antipodes. Million Dollar Mouse eradicator to take on Auckland’s pigs, cats and mice

Stephen Horn has been appointed as the Pest Eradication Project Manager by New Zealand’s Department of Conservation to lead the eradication of the remaining introduced mammals on sub-Antarctic Auckland Island.  Stephen previously managed the “Million Dollar Mouse Campaign” that successfully baited New Zealand’s Antipodes Island last year in an attempt to eradicate its population of House Mice Mus musculus (click here).

A specialist team led by Stephen will now develop a feasibility study for the eradication of pigs Sus scrofa,feral cats Felis catus and mice from the island, intended to be published in February next year.  Read more here and here.

A White-capped Albatross on Auckland Island, photograph by Graham Parker

According to one news story, the pigs will be hunted and trapped with the aid of dogs (click here).

Read an earlier posting on the planned Auckland Island eradication in ACAP Latest News here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 July 2017