Cat eradication on remote Macquarie Island causes fails to help native species say scientists

Cats were removed by conservationists from the sub-Antarctic island from the 1980s in order to save native burrowing birds.

Cats were brought to Macquarie Island by sailors in the 19th Century, where they lived off rabbits that were also introduced.

But after the virus myxomatosis wiped out the rabbit population in the 1970s, the cats turned to killing native burrowing birds on the island.

Conservationists intervened with a cat eradication programme in the late 1980s to save the endangered bird species

this has led to an explosion in the rabbit population, which is killing native plantlife

conservation agencies must learn from the experiences on the island to balance the affects of removing alien species

The lessons for conservation agencies globally is that interventions should be comprehensive, and include risk assessments to explicitly consider and plan for indirect effects