Rat Island: Predators in Paradise and the World's Greatest Wildlife Rescue

by William Stolzenburg

Rat Island rises from the icy gray waters of the Bering Sea, a mass of volcanic rock covered with tundra, midway between Alaska and Siberia. Once a remote sanctuary for enormous flocks of seabirds, the island gained a new name when shipwrecked rats colonized, savaging the nesting birds by the thousands. Now, on this and hundreds of other remote islands around the world, a massive-and massively controversial-wildlife rescue mission is under way.

Islands, making up just 3 percent of Earth's landmass, harbor more than half of its endangered species. These fragile ecosystems, home to unique species that evolved in peaceful isolation, have been catastrophically disrupted by mainland predators-rats, cats, goats, and pigs ferried by humans to islands around the globe. To save these endangered islanders, academic ecologists have teamed up with professional hunters and semiretired poachers in a radical act of conservation now bent on annihilating the invaders. Sharpshooters are sniping at goat herds from helicopters. Biological SWAT teams are blanketing mountainous isles with rat poison. Rat Island reveals a little-known and much-debated side of today's conservation movement, founded on a cruel-to-be-kind philosophy.

Touring exotic locales with a ragtag group of environmental fighters, William Stolzenburg delivers both perilous adventure and intimate portraits of human, beast, hero, and villain. And amid manifold threats to life on Earth, he reveals a new reason to hope.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Nature, Animals, History, Biology, Natural History

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 24, 2011

Reviews

[Kerri Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the strangest and most ill-fitting title for a fascinating book that is about so much more than rats or any one island. This book is so much more about birds than it is about rats. And of the many birds mentioned, none features as prominently as the kakapo.

This book taught me so much. About the history of New Zealand, mostly, and kakapos, and about so many other interesting archipelogos on this earth. It also reinforced some things I already knew, too—namely, the way colonization perpetually brings destruction, even when it's wholly unintentional. See also: rats as stowaways on ships of all shapes and sizes who then land on islands when humans do and bada boom, bada bing, lots of rat humping and suddenly all of your native birds are dead.

This book is laden with stories of hope and anguish, fame and folly, and is largely centered on fresh-faced, industrious men trying to undo some of the worst mistakes made by equally industrious and over-zealous humans (mostly men; sorry not sorry, guys; the patriarchy sucks at everything). It will also mean you never look at a rat (or an island) the same way again.

Parts of this book are flat-out riveting, making it something I could happily read for weeks. But the pacing was definitely off in the middle-to-latter-half of the book, which served as a strange distraction from the power and intrigue of the original focus of the story.

What I ultimately decided: This book needed a better developmental editor and it needed a stronger ending, but it's still 100% worth your time.

[Five stars for an interesting story and quality writing, minus one star for the story losing its way for a few chapters there, minus one-point-five stars for an abrupt, disorganized ending = Three-point-five stars, rounded up to four out of enthusiastic, probably naive hope for the kakapo.]

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most profound books on conservation that I've ever read.

5 stars. Highly recommended

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good, but too objective for me. The main question is to what extent is it ok to kill invasive predators for the sake of conservation. Good question that I like. Most of the book was anecdotes though, which is nice and fun, but I want grueling intellectual debate that ruins professional and personal relationships alike. Did you know that rats laugh

[Bruce Rideout · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author does a masterful job of turning what could be a dry and depressing conservation issue into a riveting and hopeful story. Very interesting and informative; not dry science and not fluff story-telling.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Organizationally, I admit I wished for a bit better developmental editing; it felt as if this jumped around a bit in ways that sometimes unintentionally obfuscated various storylines or narrative points. That said, Stolzenburg's book is incredibly well-researched and makes an important case for certain types of conservation science and I'm quite glad I read it. I'll be thinking about parts of this one for some time.

[4 stars for conservation science and some great narratives.]

[Emily Rooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly informative, deeply entertaining, funny, well-researched, accessible, and lovely (albeit at times heartbreaking) on every level. I love animals and never knew how much of conservation efforts involves killing them. I am very interested in rats in general, in their proliferation across the globe and of course their intelligence, survival, and ranking perhaps only second to humans in terms of causing damage to the natural world. I would recommend this book to anyone, and now I have a newfound desire to see a kakapo.

[Jeff Jellets · Rating 4 out of 5]

”This is a story of people who kill so that others might live.”

This book is probably not for anyone who likes rats, cats, foxes, stoats, pigs or goats.

In Rat Island, scientific journalist William Stolzenburg embeds like a battlefield reporter into a global battalion of hardened eco-warriors who are waging war against invasive species threatening to annihilate some of earth’s rarest island flora and fauna. The carnage is gruesome and on a scale that is impossible to conceptualize. Hundreds of thousands of seabirds missing eyes and brains, shot pigs and goats, foxes maimed in snap traps, rats poisoned and bleeding to death by the hundreds of thousands, and whole species of delicate birds, bats, lizards, crabs and other animals cut beneath extinction’s scythe, wiped clean from Planet Earth.

It’s a grim topic and Stolzenburg is unflinching in covering this genocidal struggle. However, despite the carnage, he is also poignantly hopeful. Taking the dodo-like kakapo – a flightless New Zealand parrot – as his totem animal, Stolzenburg personalizes this war against extinction with a champion: a loveable bird that despite the odds is still clinging to the biosphere and that is symbolic of the ever-shifti fortunes of inter-species combat. Far from being maudlin, Stolzenburg writes with the same vigor and verve of his rouge environmentalists, who against all odds, are pulling species back from the brink of extinction, paradoxically enough with an arsenal of guns, traps, and toxic chemicals lethal enough to make the Geneva Convention wince.

(Stolzenburg is also remarkably fair and balanced. While it would be rather easy to demonize the rat (and other invading species), Stolzenburg delivers a fair picture of the rodents and their proponents. As some animal activist groups point out, the butchering of these species is just as inhumane as their unchecked depredations. This paradox of ‘killing to save’ troubles many of the eco-warriors Stolzenburg writes about and remains an ethical devil’s imp in the extinction debate).

Despite liking this book a lot and even given its relative optimism, the slaughter did prey on my subconscious. I had dreams of cradling my pet puppy and finding rat bites chewed through her sides. Another nightmare had me scrabbling ‘Richard Henry-like’ through a woods, chasing unseen birds in a luckless rescue as screams – human screams -- reverberated through the canopy. This subliminal anxiety was undoubtably fueled by a sudden surge of stories in my Twitter feed of extermination campaigns against invading murder hornets in the U.S. Pacific northwest and skirmishes against air-breathing snakehead fish in our domestic waterways. Global warming may be the world’s environmental cause du jour but rising temperatures seem an almost sanguine menace compared against the ‘teeth and claws’ ferocity of bloodthirsty alien species.

P.S. Save the kakapo! If your heart strings have also been tugged by the plight of the kakapo, you can help save the species through the New Zealand Department of Conservation’s Kakapo Recovery Program at https://www.doc.govt.nz/kakapo-recovery. Sadly, there are only 197 kakapo alive today.

[Minna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I half-expected a book of ecological nonfiction to be frustratingly dry, but this was absolutely gripping. Rat Island, while being an actual island as well, is more of a symbolic title representing the transformation of far-flung islands full of native flora and fauna into barren rocks with dying native populations and swarms of rats (among other alien invaders). The efforts by dedicated individuals to rid the islands of their unwelcome colonists and return the struggling populations to health were fascinating... and saddening. I realize that this book was published in 2011, but a quick internet search of the kakapo in 2018 shows that they are still struggling to survive. Ostensibly the least auklets and other birds of the Aleutian islands are doing better; I found several 2016 articles saying that the seabird populations of the "Rat Islands" in the Aleutian chain are recovering nicely. However, Kiska (one of the largest islands) still hasn't had its invaders removed and, according to recent articles, there are no immediate plans to do so.

The kakapo of New Zealand:


The least auklet of the Aleutian islands:


I was also very intrigued by the author's inclusion of information about rats and new research that points to rats having feelings such as joy and empathy (among others). It's easy to villainize the unappealing, ill-reputed rat but it was news to me that they had so many positive (even somewhat endearing?) characteristics.

Overall, an excellent book and worth a read to anyone with an interest in ecology, biology, or environmental issues, or really anyone looking for an interesting non-fiction title.

Added to 2018 PopSugar Reading Challenge in category: Book with an animal in the title.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is without a doubt one of the most eye opening, inspiring and moving books I have ever read. Sharing many incredible stories of humans across the globe devoting their lives and going to almost unbelievable lengths to save endangered species. I recommend this book to absolutely everyone, wether you have an interest in wildlife or know nothing about biodiversity and species loss. I have learned so much from reading Rat Island and my view on wildlife conservation has changed immensely in the past 2 weeks. Before reading this the animal activist in me was upset about New Zealand killing so many mammals to save the native birds. Now I also want to join a biological swat team and save islands around the world for these tragically endangered birds.

[Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was suprised by how much I enjoyed this book. A century-long account of island restoration and predator exterminantion didn't sound like the most riviteing topic, but Stolzenburg turns it into a totally engrossing story. It's full of unlikely and sympathetic heroes, like Richard Henry of New Zelanad and master cat-trapper Bill Wood. The story also has as cunning antagonists (invasive rats and feral cats, mostly) that Stolzenburg really builds up into nigh-unstoppable foes. I found it impossible not to get pulled in and get personally committed to the story. You feel a sense of dread when he hints that an island redoubt of New Zealand flightless birds may have been invaded by stoats.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The eradication of predators in order to save the native species. I was hoping for a National Geo program instead of a book. After reading it, I realized that will never happen due to the sensitive topic of "killing animals", like 160,000 goats in Galapagos to save the giant tortoise. So this book is as good as it can get to know the history and how the environmentalist did it. A very good read.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conservationists work to restore bird populations to islands (off New Zealand, in the Bering Sea, off the coasts of California and Mexico) by the extermination of introduced predators (rats, feral cats, goats, pigs, rabbits, weasels....). Can Manhattan be next? Bibliography. Wonderful science writing. Maybe not for the squeamish. Don't let Kitty see you reading this.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story of human destruction and reconstruction and the philosophical viewpoint behind out mistakes and our choices.

[Elizabeth]

As heard on the NPR Books podcast.

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in conservation ecology.

[Chris Loves to Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of conservationist's fight against invasive species. Hopefully we can save all the planet's islands from fox, goats, cats, weasels, pigs, and rats.

[Josephine Draper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A non-fiction book that reads like a thriller. It's the story, primarily, of the consequences when rats (and other predators) are introduced to environments where the fauna has evolved without them. Answer - rapid annihilation of species which can't fly away or defend themselves. A recipe for disaster for places like New Zealand with its cacophony of flightless birds. A particularly harrowing chapter details what happened in 1964 when rats invaded Big South Cape Island, the very last refuge for four species already driven off the mainland of New Zealand. The result was devastation and rapid extinction for three of those species. That we still have South Island Saddleback is mostly luck as the Wildlife Service (as it was then) managed to get to the island and relocate them in time.

New Zealand focusses heavily, but it's also the story of other islands around the world, including the Aleutian Islands in Alaska (including the titular Rat Island) and the islands of the Baja California, which suffered at the paws of rats, foxes and cats.

There is an awful lot of killing in this book - killing of poor flightless birds and chicks on nests by introduced predators, killing of foxes and otters by people seeking pelts, and later on, killing of the predators through poison application (which is when it gets really gripping).

The early part of the book is heartbreaking. But then you get to cheer on the kiwi can-do attitude and the saving of first one, then another island and their vulnerable birdlife through the mass murder of rats. Not for the faint hearted, but this book will do a great job of convincing you of why mass poisoning rats is the conservation answer in some cases.

[Too Many Toys · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and balanced. I'm not sure what prompted me to read this book, but expect it was mentioned in something else I read. I learned a number of things about invasive species and eradication that I didn't know and got more detail on the few eradication efforts I was aware of. After reading, I am now aware that the problem is more widespread than I was aware. The author did a great job of taking a subject that could have been a dry documentary or unbalanced propoganda and making it balanced and interesting. This is a subject that more people should be aware of this is probably a good place to start.

[Andrew Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought there'd be more rats. At least the rats could have been called upon more frequently as explicit metaphore. If I'm going to read, and read about insane infestations and the demise of biodiversity as a side effect of humanity's hubris and self interst at that, I at least want to be consistently disgusted by the impliment of our stupidity.

And oh great, now I want to go on dramatic trips to see dull birds in remote locations. Reading sucks.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dull start but by the end, it'd gotten much more interesting. I'd actually give it a 3.5 if I could. Endings of each chapter are cliche cliffhangers (not very well written) but scientifically it's got its good points. Would recommend only for a very specific type of audience.

[Cami · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much information about failures of the past and the successes. It is amazing what the rats can do and how we have worked to out smart them (and they in turn us - who is watching the watcher?). There are some great tales that you will want to share with everyone you meet.

[Danni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently written piece of science communication, covering case studies of invasive species from
New Zealand to Alaska. Really engaging, fascinating and accessible - the perfect way to cover a sensitive and hugely important conservation issue.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably one of the best written scientific books ever. Reads like a novel, but is good solid science.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a part in the beginning that was slow and I found it hard to keep going. Once I got past it I couldn't put the book down.

[Franck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, it’s all about wildlife conservation and mostly birds, but gosh! This reads like a thriller. Very, very good work. I’m glad I didn’t shy away from reading it.

[Priya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant!

[Ross James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written account of the incredible conservation movement to remove invasive species from island ecosystems.

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

We've all heard about the direct impact that man has had on numerous ecologies, how humans have helped spur the latest great extinction event*. But what is rather less well-known is the impact we've had through the introduction (accidental or deliberate but poorly considered) of invasive species - cats, weasels, arctic foxes and most especially RATS.

Scientists estimate that at least 103 species of animals - mostly birds - have gone extinct due primarily to predation by introduced rats for which they have no natural defense in Hawaii alone. Multiply that by the number of other vulnerable islands and that figure goes up significantly. Numerous others have been driven to near extinction by rat infestations. It's even thought the true story behind the devastation on Easter Island was precipitated by the presence of imported rats.

We know the damage that's been done - and that continues today. But what can and is being done? In short, small groups are mounting herculean efforts to remove invaders completely from these islands and give the native species a chance to claw their way from the brink of extinction, using methods as absolute as they are controversial.

Rat Island tells the tale of small groups of naturalists, park rangers and evangelists who are fighting the uphill battle against invasive species - and winning.

THE STORY
Rat Island is the story of what we've lost when introduced species enter an ecosystem ripe for plunder. Numbers of the natives drop precipitously, even to the point of extinction. William Stolzenburg details in grisly detail some of the magnificent species - primarily birds - who have wiped out by a few pairs of rats who landed on an otherwise isolated island of unique life. He goes in depth most on the story of New Zealand and its embattled flightless parrot, the kakapo, but touches similar examples of woe all over the world.

Then he tells the tale of those who would save these island oases where so many unique species dwell. Using diverse methods such as wiping out entire populations of invasive species via poison, trapping and mata hari goats, naturalists do what they can to rid these fragile habitats of the marauders so that the rare, native species can attempt to make a comeback. Meanwhile, others desperately search for new isolated locations to move the remaining populations of threatened species where eradication isn't possible in a last ditch effort to protect them and give them a chance.

Stolzenburg does a good job at setting the stage in this book - perhaps too good. The first half of the story covers the relentless slaughter of millions of birds, insects and reptiles by introduced species. From the eradication of seabird colonies throughout the Pacific islands by 3 species of ship-borne rats to the devastation wrought upon the unique fauna of New Zealand's islands by a succession of imported creatures (rats > rabbits > stoats) to the voracious appetites of the arctic fox among previously protected auklet colonies in the Aleutians, Stolzenburg's text is a litany of horrors. After the first three chapters you are horrified; after the next 3, despondent; then comes hopelessness after even the most courageous early efforts at restoring balance are blocked by beauracracy.

It was only the hope of a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel that kept me reading. But even the second half of the book - the 'lighter' half - was darkened by the constant veil of human stupidity and continued horror stories. Perhaps it IS the reality, but having even the greatest successes constantly edged in darkness made it hard to celebrate the few, but increasing, victories being had in the conservation fight.

While I liked the book overall, I would have preferred a slightly more positive tone in later chapters to highlight the hope we have at restoring some of the balance.

About the Book
One interesting aspect of the book is the rough-hewn edges of the pages, which give it a more natural feel than most books produced today. That said, however, the book is shorter than expected, too as the last 42 pages are all bibliography thus clocking the actual text at 222 pages. I'm not sure why but it felt like I was cheated a little bit.

CONCLUSION
Some chapters of our natural history are already written (unless we figure out how to clone extinct species) and its important to understand what's already been done to fully detail the importance (and magnitude) of what needs to be done.

Rat Island offers a look into the worst of the situation but some beacons of hope in preserving already threatened animals from 'unnatural' threats. While dark at times, the book is a worthwhile story to know.



* it has been estimated that the current rate of extinction is 10,000x the natural rate, mostly due to human activities and their environmental impact.

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess it is a necessary evil to get things back in balance. I like how the author is not gleeful abuot killing.

[Marcella Wigg · Rating 5 out of 5]

People often think that careers in conservation are synonymous with warm, fuzzy contact with animals, but as Rat Island demonstrates, saving one species often means killing off another, especially when one is talking about island ecosystems besieged by non-native invaders. Islands cover only a small portion of Earth's surface (5%) but an outsized proportion of its biodiversity (25%), which evolved in response to the frequent lack of standard predators present on the mainlands of the continents. New Zealand, for instance, was the land of birds, and cats, rats, and the stoats and ferrets misguidedly unleashed to kill off the rats have devastated native species there, which evolutionarily were left unguarded from such predators.

Stolzenberg focuses mostly on the rat, that most hated animal, and perhaps the worst threat to island conservation efforts worldwide: rats are hardy, wily, highly adaptable, and extremely rapidly-reproducing; their size allows them to invade spaces larger predators cannot reach. They also have an ugly habit of going on binges after winter periods of starvation, killing entire colonies of seabird chicks and seabirds alike in rapid succession, and then leaving the vast majority of the animal behind uneaten. Many islands' ecosystems have been devastated by their presence.

In response, a certain school of biologists have taken to enacting campaigns of total annihilation on the rats, poisoning them with anticoagulants so that the previous health of the ecosystem can be restored. "Killing to live," the idea is called at some point, and this book looks closely at their methods and results (largely successful, with some public mishaps--including the title island!).

This book is very interesting and well-researched, providing a background on the threat invaders pose to island ecology and also short biographical portraits of the various players in New Zealand's and Aleutian Islands' attempts to save indigenous animals through rat extermination. Various interesting mishaps of human interaction with animal are discussed, including the Steller's sea cow. The content itself is fascinating, but could have been dry if framed without an attempt at a narrative. However, Stolzenberg masterfully intertwines the various stories in far-flung locales that are explored to get a thorough picture of the successes and challenging of such an approach to conservation.