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 and Haida Heritage Site . <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
At-risk species such as ancient murrelets have vanished from their nesting sites over the years due to the rats. <\/p>\n
\"That's the problem, they're so voracious,\" Parks Canada project manager Laurie Wein said in an interview Wednesday. \"They'll eat the eggs, the young chicks. They can have a dramatic impact on ground-nesting seabirds.\" <\/p>\n
When the rats run out of birds, they turn to intertidal areas to forage on marine life. \"They'll eat anything. They're not picky.\" <\/p>\n
In the first phase of the program, in 2011, officials launched a ground-based program, placing poison bait boxes on two other islands - 95-hectare Bischof and 10-hectare Ari-chika - to eradicate the rats. <\/p>\n
The results of that program are still being monitored. <\/p>\n
\"We don't declare success until we know we've had two years where we can't detect rats ... but so far things are looking good,\" Wein said. <\/p>\n
Due to the size of Murchison and Faraday, officials decided to opt for a more practical helicopter-based application. <\/p>\n
\"It's similar to agricultural seeding operations, a bucket suspended below a helicopter that dispenses a pelleted bait.\" <\/p>\n
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Poison program aims to eradicate rats from Gwaii Haanas islands, save birds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 and Haida Heritage Site . 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. Continue reading