The Pacific has more threatened bird species per
unit of land area, or per person, than any other region in the world and is
home to around a quarter of the world's globally threatened bird species.
To try to stop more bird species becoming
extinct two major conservation organisations are getting together to try to
eradicate rats and feral cats that a major threat to bird life.
In the new year Island Conservation, a
California based organisation will work with BirdLife International's Pacific
office in Fiji in a series of programs across the Pacific.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Ray Nias, south western Pacific
regional director, Island Conservation
NIAS: The islands are particularly susceptible
to threats from invasive species like feral cats and rats. Essentially what
happened is this is a problem that's been occurring over the course of history.
Some of the species were moved around from island to island very early on,
hundreds of years ago, in fact in some cases thousands of years ago. Up until
very recently where for example the brown tree snake was allowed to get out of
Solomon Islands and is now a major pest species in many parts of the Pacific.
People just move animals around for different reasons, both deliberate and
accidental. Shipwrecks result in rats getting onto islands all of the time,
even now.
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