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Almost exactly 2000 miles west of Hawaii, Wake Atoll is one of the most
isolated specks of land in the North Pacific Ocean. Wake has a long history
of environmental degradation, starting with the millenary trade feather
hunters who, around the turn of the last century, nearly wiped out the
thousands of seabirds who needed the remote island for roosting and nesting.
World War II also provided a tremendous blow, when Japanese troops almost
certainly brought about the extinction of the atoll's only endemic bird,
the Wake Rail. Sometime in the 1960s, civilian inhabitants of the atoll
brought pet cats, who soon turned to the helpless bird population for additional
food and to exercise their instinctive predatory traits. By the end of
the 60s, Wake's bird populations were nearly eliminated. Periodic scientific
visitations in the last 30 years have all called for removal of the feral
cats. In 1996 the ESRC made its first trip to Wake, and determined that
removal of cats (and rats) was technically feasible and necessary, not
only to save the birds but also to end the suffering of the feral cats
which are not suited for life on this intensely hot, arid atoll.
Photo by William T. Everett, © 1999. All rights
reserved.
|
Photo by Hawaiian Service Inc., © 1993. All rights
reserved.
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Since
1996, under the guidance of ESRC Program Manager Mark Rauzon, we have made
several visits to Wake, to continue a program designed to reduce impacts
of feral cats and rats on the birds who nest there. Ultimately, we hope
to receive the funding necessary to properly restore Wake as an important
and safe place for Pacific waterbirds to call home. If this is done, we
believe several rare and endangered species of birds will ultimately return
and set up housekeeping. We are grateful for the support of the residents
of Wake, the U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Army, all of whom have been extraordinarily
helpful. |
