Mankind started coming to Macquarie Island in about 1810 to kill the island's native animals (fur seals, elephant seals, and penguins) for fur and blubber.
During these visits, rats and mice came off the ships and prospered due to the lack of predators (mankind not counting). OOPS.
Cats were then deliberately introduced to keep the rodents from eating mankind's food stores. So the cats ate the native seabirds to the tune of about 60,000 per year. OOPS.
Then, about 1870, rabbits were brought to the island by sealers to breed for food. Within a hundred years, 100,000+ rabbits were snarfing down the native vegetation. OOPS.
In 1985 mankind started removing the 2500 cats, the last of which were removed in June 2000.
Without the cats, the seabird _and rodent_ populations started rising. OOPS.
Rats and mice ate the birds' eggs as well as the young chicks. Rabbits ate the grass. The loss of vegetation has lead to, wait for it, soil erosion and cliff collapses. In September 2006, a landslide at Lusitania Bay partially destroyed an important penguin breeding colony. OOPS.
Removing all the feral cats from Macquarie "caused environmental devastation" and will cost authorities 24 million Australian dollars ($16.2 million US) to remedy.
The 'remedy' is to remove the rest of the 'invasive animals'... rabbits, rats, and mice.
Plans to eradicate both rabbits as well as rats and mice from the island will begin in 2010. Helicopters using global positioning systems will drop poisonous bait that targets all three pests. Later, teams will shoot, fumigate and trap the remaining rabbits.
OMG. We need to turn these people loose on the terrorists!
So what's my point? Circle of Life? Don't Mess with Mother Nature?
I have no idea but I do have a headache.
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