TWO helicopter engineers are flying to a remote Atlantic island to lend their expertise to the world’s largest rat cull.

Paul Wilkinson and Sam Carr, who work for A2B Heli at Oxford Airport, will fly over South Georgia dropping some 95 tonnes of rat poison across the island.

The expedition is part of an international effort led by Dundee University to wipe out the Norwegian Brown Rat, which is decimating the island’s bird population.

The rats, left by whaling ships hundreds of years ago, have made several species all but extinct on South Georgia by taking their eggs.

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A helicopter poison drop last year, which Bicester father-of-three Mr Wilkinson took part in, seems to have eradicated rats in the northern half of the island.

This year, he and a team of 15 conservationists and engineers hope to finish the job in the southern half, covering an area of 364 sq km.

Mr Wilkinson said: “It is an amazing place, just spectacular.

“Once you get used to not having toilets and showers, and the fact the food is a bit rubbish, and it is long days and cold, you just go exploring.

“It is a bit of adventure.”

When he sets off on January 18, he will leave behind partner Sarah Day and their children Charlotte, 10, Alice, nine, and five-year-old Matthew, all pupils at Bicester’s Kings Meadow Primary School, for three months.

Oxford Mail:

  • Team Rat set up their forward operating base on South Georgia

Luckily, he said: “All the children think it’s quite exciting – our girls are obsessed with penguins and seals.”

With no communication on the isolated islands, 12,254km from England, last year Mr Wilkinson stayed in touch by writing letters home.

Mr Wilkinson’s company, A2B Heli, was hired by the conservation team, and have been working at Oxford Airport for the past 10 months converting three former air ambulance helicopters for the challenge.

They have added a GPS tracking system, to map the areas of the island they have covered, and upgraded on-board radios.

The South Georgia Heritage Trust’s £7.5m habitat restoration project aims to reverse the ecological destruction wrought by the rats.

Because of the mountainous and inhospitable terrain, helicopters are the only way of getting around.

The rat poison takes the form of “rat treats”, which they greedily gobble up.

The birds, being mostly scavengers, are much less likely to eat them.

The operation, which will run from January to April, will involve 450 flying hours, requiring 260 “bait pods” to be laid. The team also needs 450 drums of fuel to keep the helicopters flying.

Assuming no signs of rodents are discovered in the next two years, South Georgia will be declared rodent-free for the first time since humans first landed on the island more than 200 years ago.

SOUTH GEORGIA

  • The British Overseas Territory of South Georgia is 1,000 miles east of the Falkland Islands, off the coast of South America.
  • Famous for its seals and penguins, sealers and whalers inadvertently brought rodents to the wildlife oasis.
  • Birds at risk of extinction because of the rats include the Wading Albatross, penguin species and the South Georgia Pipit.
  • Climate change is causing the retreat of the island’s glaciers, allowing rats to gain an ever stronger foothold.
  • The South Georgia Heritage Trust was founded in 2005 to preserve the sub-Antarctic island’s endangered flora and fauna through research and  public engagement, and manage practical conservation programmes to protect native species.


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