South Geor­gia: third pha­se of Habi­tat Res­to­ra­ti­on Pro­ject com­ple­ted

The third and last main working pha­se of the Habi­tat Res­to­ra­ti­on Pro­ject on South Geor­gia has been com­ple­ted suc­cessful­ly. The Habi­tat Res­to­ra­ti­on Pro­ject of the South Geor­gia Heri­ta­ge Trust (SGHT) is the immense task to remo­ve rats from the island that have been intro­du­ced by sea­lers and wha­ler, see also pre­vious news on this web­site. The aim is to res­to­re South Geor­gia as a bree­ding habi­tat for mil­li­ons of sea­birds, espe­ci­al­ly smal­ler spe­ci­es.

Some days ago, the SGHT was able to release an important press stop: the third, final main pha­se of the pro­ject has been com­ple­ted with suc­cess! On Mon­day, March 23rd 2015, the last load of bait was drop­ped from one of the heli­c­op­ters of Team Rat.

It will, howe­ver, take seve­ral years until final suc­cess can be declared: all are­as need to be careful­ly che­cked to make sure no rats have sur­vi­ved. The sur­vi­val of only 2 rats, male and fema­le, or even one pregnant fema­le, would sweep off all efforts as rats popu­la­ti­ons can pick up very quick­ly, making it impos­si­ble to con­trol them on a low level. Curr­ent­ly, are­as from ear­lier working pha­ses are being che­cked. This work will con­ti­nue for seve­ral years to come. At the time being, Team Rat is still in South Geor­gia and able to do more bai­ting should any need ari­se.

The SGHT and their sup­port­ers have done an immense work with gre­at suc­cess, achie­ving what many would have descri­bed as the impos­si­ble. In the inte­rest of mil­li­ons of sea­birds, we wish the Habi­tat Res­to­ra­ti­on Pro­ject of the SGHT the very best and we hope that we can cele­bra­te the final suc­cess of the pro­ject after all checks have been com­ple­ted within a few years.

The SGHT is hap­py to recei­ve dona­ti­ons to sup­port their ongo­ing work for the pro­ject.

Source: South Geor­gia Heri­ta­ge Trust