Galapagos National Park works to eradicate rats

Pinzon Island, Galapagos

Bahía Pingüino (Penguin Bay), a place with relatively low number of tourists in the Galapagos Islands, became the hub of a plan to eradicate rats and mice which is running for a month and a half.

The boat Guadalupe River, from the Galapagos National Park (PNG for its Spanish acronym), its anchored near the rocky shore waiting for a helicopter to deposit a hopper (cylindrical container) which hangs from ropes attached to the aircraft. A dozen men, suitably equipped, deposit the contents of a bag into the hopper and then the aircraft flies away to the island, to drop the substance every meter to cover the entire surface.

The goal is to kill about 18,000 mice and rats considered invasive species that populate the 1,812 acres of Pinzón, as well as the 18 from Plazar Sur Island. In these two islands, according to studies of PNG, there is an average of 8 to 12 rodents per hectare.

Between Friday and today the last phase of poison scattering by air will be carried out. The operation has a cost of $ 1.8 million, funded by the PNG, Charles Darwin Station and the international organization Island Conservation.