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Shared Planet

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Series exploring the complex interface between a growing human population and wildlife

Monty Don presents a series exploring the complex interface between a growing human population and wildlife

Shared Planet: Rat Eradication - Is It Worth It?

10/09/2013

Rat Eradication - Is It Worth It?

BBC Radio 4 - Shared Planet, Rat Eradication - Is It Worth It?

Brown Rats have caused havoc on many bird populations, can they, should they be removed?

Brown Rats have caused havoc and destruction on many breeding bird populations, is it possible to remove them and if it is, is it worth it?

Monty Don presents Shared Planet, the series that looks at the crunch point between Human population and the natural world. In this week's programme we have a field report from South Georgia where Tony Martin, Professor in Zoology at Dundee University and working with the South Georgia Heritage Trust, has embarked on a programme to remove 100% of rats on South Georgia. Human activity over the decades and centuries have inadvertently introduced Brown Rats to islands and mainlands and the rats have driven local extinctions of birds and caused havoc on many seabird populations, eating the chicks in the nest. Is the wildlife benefit worth the effort it takes to return such areas to a situation before Brown Rats were introduced?

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