Lord Howe Island is a beautiful tropical island some 370 miles off the coast of Australia. It was declared a World Heritage Site back in 1982 thanks to its pristine beauty and the wide variety of rare animals found there. However, Lord Howe Island has a bit of a rat problem. In 1918, a freighter wrecked against the reefs near the island and since then the countryside has been infested with black rats that are killing off local species. There’s only one solution, and it’s a last-ditch effort to be rid of the invasive rat for good: they’re going to carpet-bomb the island with 42 tons of rat poison.
Now, don’t worry about the native species, they’re going to be okay. Same with the local pets and livestock. All the animals on the island are going to be rounded up and shipped off for 100 days while the poison gets dumped and (hopefully) the rats die off. Good thing it’s a small island, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to round up all the critters and ship them away! As for the rats, if this doesn’t work, they’re going to call in expert rat-killer Mokhiarul Islam, the man who killed 84,000 rats.
Tags: Lord Howe Island, 42 tons of rat poison, rat problems, mass-killing of rats, unusual animals, infestations, invasive species, Australia, unusual solutions to odd problems, rat poison