The Aleutians have a rat problem. Scientists are trying to solve it. - Alaska Public Media

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For millions of years, birds lived nearly predator free on the Aleutian Islands. Then came the rats. “The rats are like an oil spill that keeps on spilling year after year,” said Steve Delehanty with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.

For millions of years, birds lived nearly predator free on the Aleutian Islands. The volcanic archipelago stretches westward for 1,200 miles from the Alaska Peninsula, dotting a border between the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. Hundreds of bird species thrived here.When a Japanese boat sank in the Western Aleutians around 1780, stowaway rats jumped ship and made it to one of the islands, wreaking havoc on the ecosystem.

But those birds are in trouble. Massive seabird die-offs in recent years have conservationists scrambling for solutions. And while there are many reasons for the decline in bird populations — rising ocean temperatures, algal blooms, and changing food sources — rats certainly play a role. In August, around half a dozen scientists are planning to visit Great Sitkin Island in the Western Aleutians. Their plan is to put a small number of nonpoisonous pellets in strategic locations around the island. They’ll deposit the pellets by hand, then study how the pellets interact with the ecosystem. Back in 2008, before the group decided to end the rats’ Aleutian vacation once and for all, a team of scientists traveled to Hawadax Island, formerly known as Rat Island.

 

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