Island eradicates ferrets with rats next on the agenda

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Ferrets have been eradicated from Rathlin Island, which sits off the coast of Northern Ireland and is home to 250,000 seabirds. These include puffins, guillemots and endangered corncrakes. Ferrets were first introduced to Rathlin in the 1980s to control rabbits and rats. Instead they preyed on eggs, chicks and adult birds. Their eradication is the first time a ferret population has been removed from an inhabited island anywhere in the world. Led by the RSPB, the campaign caught and removed 98 ferrets. The operation involved hundreds of traps, thermal imaging drones and a one-eyed labrador called Woody, who is trained to sniff out the pests. Attention has now turned to ridding the island of 10,000 invasive rats.