Anacapa Rat Eradication 10 Years Later

Abstract

Black rats have been on Anacapa Island for close to 100 years and pose a threat to the biodiversity of the island. Removing non-native rats from an island is a powerful conservation tool. There have been numerous attempts to eradicate rats from Anacapa: 2001/2002 marked the first successful eradication of invasive rodents from an entire island where an endemic rodent was present, and the first aerial application of rodenticides in North America.