“Bikar Atoll and Jemo Islet are classic island paradises from above: white sand beaches, clear turquoise waters and lush forests. But over decades, even centuries, the remote uninhabited islands in the North Pacific — part of the Marshall Islands — have been overcome by rats…

The rodents, which are invasive to the Marshall Islands and likely arrived as stowaways on ships, have caused ecological chaos. They devour native vegetation and prey on baby crabs, eggs and turtle hatchlings. The islands, which were once havens for the likes of endangered green sea turtles and seabird colonies, saw those populations decimated…

A year later, it’s a different story, thanks to an eradication program undertaken by Island Conservation together with the Marshall Islands’ Marine Resources Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Commerce.

Rat bait was dropped by drone in July 2024… The bait, designed to target rats, has little effect on other species. It needed to be widespread so that each individual rodent ate at least one pellet, he adds.

The team made the long trip back to the islands this summer, to see if their work paid off…

Within an hour on Jemo and Bikar, he was confident that it had worked, and following intensive monitoring with trail cameras, rat traps, spotlight searches and thermal detection equipment, they confirmed that rodents had been successfully eradicated from the two islands.

Seabird populations were soaring: a breeding colony of 2,000 sooty terns had established themselves on Bikar, whereas the year before there had been none. Jacques saw greater crested terns and brown noddies nesting on the ground, a Christmas shearwater — a dark-brown seabird which he says has never been recorded on Bikar before — and species of geckos and land crabs that were absent in 2024…

One of the most striking signs of success was the thousands of seedlings of the native Pisonia grandis trees that had sprung up across the forest floor. In 2024, they had counted zero.”

From CNN.