Giant mice threaten seabirds · Issue 871, by Sian Symons

Giant carnivorous mice are threatening the world’s greatest seabird colony on a remote island in the South Atlantic.

Gough Island was considered a safe haven for birds 150 years ago.

Without a single predator on the island, the bird population was in its millions.

Today Gough is deemed to be “one of nature’s greatest horror shows”.

A whaling boat, presumably from Britain, is suspected to have carried a few mouse stowaways that escaped onto the Island.

Not only have the mice multiplied to a number nearing 700,000, they have also evolved to be three times the size of an ordinary house mouse.

Also, unlike the normal species found in Britain, these mice differ from their vegetarian ancestors and have adapted to eating albatross and shearwater chicks alive in their nests.

As the birds on the Island have never experienced predators before it is feared that they are unable to defend themselves against the killer mice.

The conservation group Birdlife International has recently recognised that the mice are believed to be “the largest mice found anywhere in the world” and are out of control as they face no predators.

Birdlife International also worries that the mutant mice will make some of the rarest bird species extinct.

Studies suggest that about 60% of Gough’s chicks die in their nests as a result of predation by the mice.

Dr Geoff Hilton, a scientist researching conservation problems, said: “The only hope for these threatened birds is the complete eradication of the mice.”

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has suggested hiring helicopters to drop rodent poison on the Island, which would cost around £2.6 million.

Solutions are now being considered by the UK government, which has previously been criticised for neglecting the ecology of its overseas territories.

However, the government has professed an interest in supporting the study and is now in the process of finalising the plans for the mouse eradication.