ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The rats appear to be gone from Alaska's Rat Island, more than 200 years after they scurried off a rodent-infested Japanese ship.
Helicopters dropped rat poison on the island last year in hopes of returning many bird species to the uninhabited island in the Aleutian Chain.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says two weeks of intensive monitoring shows no sign of invasive rats. It also shows that several bird species, including peregrine falcons and black oystercatchers, were nesting on the island.
Scientists did find numerous carcasses of two types of birds: glaucous-winged gulls and bald eagles. The federal agency is conducting tests to try to determine why they died.
A shipwreck in 1780 brought rats to the island located some 1,700 miles from Anchorage.
The Daily Oddity
June 17, 2009
Oh rats! Rodent-free Alaska island needs new name
- The Daily Oddity
-
- Norwegian accused of skin-crawling snake smuggling A man has been arrested in Norway trying to smuggle two dozen snakes and geckos into the country by hiding them under his clothes.
- Man pleads guilty to DWI in motorized La-Z-Boy A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk.
- Vick signing means no Eagles picks from NJ camel Philadelphia Eagles fans thirsty for predictions on whether their team will win or lose each week won't get them from a New Jersey pigskin-prognosticating camel.
- 'Moon rock' in Dutch museum is just petrified wood It's not green cheese, but it might as well be.
- Calif. man gets 2 more years for posing as lawyer A Southern California man sent to prison for seven years for falsely claiming to be an attorney has been sentenced to two more years for posing as a lawyer again days after he was released.
- Driver tells Conn. police snakes led to SUV crash Police say a driver blamed a car crash in Hartford, Conn., on two pet baby snakes that he said escaped from his pants pockets as he was driving.
- Dead shark left in Miami street after failed sale The body of a shark was left lying in the middle of a downtown Miami street after two men tried to sell it to several fish markets.
- Conn. cops: Man went naked to dental appointment Police say a Connecticut man has been arrested because he showed up at a dental office naked.
- Dimwitted thieves steal fake cell phones in Mexico Call it the case of the dead cells — both telephones and the ones in the brain.
- Thief view: Police nab twins snapped on Google Dutch police have arrested twin brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google's Street View map application, a spokesman said Friday.
- More The Daily Oddity Headlines
