Book description
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. '[Stolzenburg's] infectious
enthusiasm should spark even in bug-wary urbanites a renewed
appreciation for nature's complexity' Time 'Absorbing and delightful ...
Not just an enriching story, but a new, clarifying lens through which to
understand the world around us' Thomas Hayden, Christian Science Monitor
'In dazzling descriptions, Stolzenburg demonstrates how the delicate
balance between predator and prey is so essential, and his book, rich in
dramatic accounts of life and death in the wild, is powerful and
compelling' Publishers Weekly, starred review 'Science writing at its
best' Edward O. Wilson 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.
