VANCOUVER 鈥� An airborne assault will begin this fall in the ongoing war to rid important bird-nesting islands of non-native rats in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve.
As part of a five-year, $2.2-million program, officials will employ a helicopter to drop rat poison over two sites in Juan Perez Sound: 400-hectare Murchison Island and 316-hectare Faraday Island.
At-risk species such as ancient murrelets have vanished from their nesting sites there over the years due to the rats.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the problem, they鈥檙e so voracious,鈥� Parks Canada project manager Laurie Wein said in an interview Wednesday. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l eat the eggs, the young chicks. They can have a dramatic impact on ground-nesting seabirds.鈥�
When the rats run out of birds, they turn to intertidal areas to forage on marine life. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l eat anything. They鈥檙e not picky.鈥�
In the first phase of the program, in 2011, officials launched a ground-based program, placing poison bait boxes on two other islands 鈥� 95-hectare Bischof and 10-hectare Arichika 鈥� to eradicate the rats. The results are being monitored.
