The government of Ecuador is preparing for the mass poisoning of 180 million rats on an uninhabited island in the Galapagos region. But what will they do with the bodies?
A helicopter is set to drop nearly 22 tons of specialised rat bait on the Galapagos Island of Pinzon in order to rid the land of rodents. It’s the second stage in a war to rid the nasty feckers from the Galapagos’ 19 islands. Ecuador is hoping to clear the rats by 2020 and the mass poisoning has been dubbed ‘a very expensive but totally necessary war’.
Galapagos Islands helped to shape Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and it’s home to some rare species of plant and animal, such as the Galapagos giant tortoise (pictured above). However, the rats are taking over.
“It’s one of the worst problems the Galapagos have. (Rats) reproduce every three months and eat everything,” Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a specialist with the Nature Conservancy, said.
The move raises a few questions. Firstly, how do they know other animals won’t eat the poison? And secondly, wouldn’t 180 million dead rats be fairly noticeable?
The answers are quite simple. The poison has been specially designed to attract rats and to discourage other wildlife. Having said that, some animals have been caught and removed from the island for their own safety.
As for the dead rats, the poison has a strong anti-coagulant that will make the rats dry up and disintegrate in less than eight days.
