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The latest issue of Project News, the Newsletter of the South Georgia Habitat Restoration Project, is now available online (click here).  Number 10 for April 2012 brings the good news that the areas treated so far on South Georgia/Islas Georgias del Sur* continue to appear to remain rat free, although final proof of eradication still awaits.

Information is also provided on progress with Phase Two of the huge operation to rid the whole island of rodents by poison bait drop, of a House Mouse Mus musculus survey, and how fund-raising is progressing (and how you can contribute by sponsoring your own hectare).

Here's a quote for you to grasp the scale of the project:

"The Phase 2 numbers are frightening!  In Year One alone we will be putting ashore 750 helicopter loads of gear and supplies, and using 500 drums of aviation fuel and 200,000 kilos of bait to clear rodents from 58,000 hectares (145,000 acres) of South Georgia. The 2013 operation will cover four times more land than any rodent eradication previously attempted. The cost is expected to be £3.2 m or just short of $5 m U.S. This scale of conservation work is not for the faint-hearted!"

A Wandering Albatross on Prion Island with South Georgia/Islas Georgias del Sur* as a backdrop.  Photograph by Anton Wolfaardt

Check it out: it's a heartening read!

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 8 May 2012

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.