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Feature: Pied Piper succeeds in ridding an entire island of every rat

Xinhua, February 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

The world's leading community-led project to rescue a seabird population by removing every rat has been officially declared a success.

It means loving birds on the tiny islands of St Agnes and Gugh off the southern coast of Britain can celebrate St Valentine's Day happily breeding, knowing their chicks will be safe.

In the famous story, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a rat-catcher was hired to rid the town of rats by playing music on his magic pipe. When the townsfolk refused to pay his fee, he used his magic pipe to lure away the children.

The 80 residents of St Agnes and Gugh, part of the Scilly Isles, have no such fears. The modern day pied pipers used multi-colored poisons to catch every rat, and they have been paid for their services.

The British wildlife charity Royal Society for the Protection of Birds this weekend declared officially the island as rat-free, two years after the last signs of rat activity were spotted.

Said an RSPB spokesman: "This is the world's largest community-led project to restore seabird populations by removal of rats."

"Local volunteers worked with conservationists from the Isles of Scilly Seabird Recovery Project and island restoration specialists Wildlife Management International Ltd (WMIL) to rid their islands of the non-native rats that were killing seabirds," said the spokesman.

Brown rats arrived on the islands in the 18th century following several shipwrecks off the Atlantic Ocean coast. The population of rats grew and became harmful to nesting seabirds, including European storm petrels and Manx shearwaters.

With numbers of the species declining, the removal of the rats was essential to protect the seabirds. Rat baiting started in November 2013 and continued every day, and by the end of the month the last evidence of rats was observed.

The RSPB spokesman added: "St Agnes and Gugh now meet the international criteria to be declared rat-free. Since the removal of the rat population both Manx shearwaters and European storm petrels are successfully breeding on the islands for the first time in living memory, with over 40 chicks being recorded on the islands in the last two years."

Elizabeth Bell, senior ecologist at Wildlife Management International Ltd, said: "The eradication of non-native brown rats from St Agnes and Gugh demonstrates that the techniques of ground-based bait station operations can be successfully utilised on inhabited islands throughout the UK and the world."

Sarah Mason, CEO of Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust, added: "We must now ensure that habitats across the islands are suitable for our iconic seabirds so that they can be enjoyed by future generations."

Islander Richard McCarthy is delighted to be living on a rat-free island.

He said: "St Agnes and Gugh are very special places. Young and old, we must now do our level best to ensure we minimise the likelihood of rats returning." Endit