Sanctuary in danger

Albatross chick on Macquarie Island
Since rabbit numbers exploded on the World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island over the past couple of years, massive landslips - caused by overgrazing and tunnelling by the 100,000 bunnies - have sent entire hillsides falling into the Southern Ocean, killing king penguins and wiping out crucial albatross nests. At the same time, a living carpet of rats and mice have been feasting on the eggs in penguin and seabird colonies. Macquarie is a sub-Antarctic island about 1500 kilometres south of Tasmania and a critical breeding ground for seabirds, including four endangered species of albatross, and delicate plant systems. It also serves as a unique geological snapshot of the world's evolution, a record of life. It was only when the World Wildlife Fund issued a horrifying and highly publicised report on the crisis in April that Tasmanian Environment Minister Paula Wriedt started talking with Federal Minister Malcolm Turnbull about paying for a rescue plan. (Tasmania administers the island while the Federal Government runs a research station as part of its Antarctic program.)It takes up to two years to train a dog to work off the leash sniffing out rabbits while reliably staying away from non-target species such as penguins. "If the dogs aren't ready we may have to defer for a year," says Keith Springer, project manager for the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service. The dog teams are in fact stage two of the most ambitious attempt to rid an island of rabbits and other vermin. Macquarie Island is about 34 kilometres long and 5.5 kilometres wide at its broadest point. Stage one is a precision helicopter bombardment of the island with 260 tonnes of poison pellets. The bombing can only take place in winter when the rabbits are not breeding and most of the seabirds have left their breeding colonies. However, because of their long breeding cycle, thousands of king penguin chicks will still be huddling in creches while their parents are out at sea foraging for food. Mr Springer says testing with non-poisonous pellets found that penguins, petrels and albatross showed no interest in the baits "as a food source". However, skuas - giant gulls - will be vulnerable to poisoning from infected carcasses.But as Hobart-based seabird expert Barry Baker says: "There is no alternative. Even though some native species will be impacted, rabbits threaten complete ecosystem collapse." The GPS-guided bombing program is modelled on a New Zealand project that wiped out a plague of Norway rats on Campbell Island, a sub-Antarctic island a little smaller than Macquarie. "If the New Zealand experience is indicative, we can expect 90 per cent of rodents and rabbits will die underground," says Mr Springer. "The way the poison works (Brodifacoum, an anti-coagulant), the animal will feel lethargic and most likely go off its tucker. And as humans do when feeling sick, the instinct will be to go and rest. Poisoning any animal to death isn't a great outcome but it’s a means to an end.The poison is expected to wipe out the rats and mice - but up to 10,000 rabbits will be left alive. And every single one of them needs to be sniffed out by a dog. "We need the dogs to hit the island as soon as the baiting is finished,"