Mice on remote island that eat albatrosses alive sentenced to death by 'bombing,' scientists decree

Invasive mice are devouring albatrosses alive on a remote island in the Indian Ocean, so conservationists have come up with an explosive solution — "bombing" the mice.

Mice have been wreaking havoc on Marion Island, between South Africa and Antarctica, for decades. Humans accidentally introduced the mice in the 19th century, and the rodents have since developed a taste for wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) and other threatened seabirds.

The Mouse-Free Marion Project, a collaboration between the South African government and BirdLife South Africa, is trying to raise $29 million to drop 660 tons (600 metric tons) of rodenticide-laced pellets onto the island in winter 2027, AFP news agency reported on Saturday (Aug. 24).

The project plans to send a squad of helicopters to drop the pellets. By striking in winter when the mice are most hungry, the conservationists hope to eradicate the entire mouse population of up to 1 million individuals.

"We have to get rid of every last mouse," Mark Anderson, CEO of BirdLife South Africa, told AFP news agency. "If there was a male and female remaining, they could breed and eventually get back to where we are now."

Related: Adult albatrosses found gnawed to death by mice on 3rd remote island

House mice (Mus musculus) first arrived on Marion Island via sealing ships. They began their reign of terror by decimating the island's invertebrates and feasting on seabird eggs. By 2003, the mice were eating seabird chicks alive, and now, a decade later, the mice have figured out they can take on adults, too.