Floreana Island — Whole-Island Invasive Rodent & Cat Eradication for Ecosystem Restoration (Galápagos, Ecuador)

Since 2012, the Galápagos National Park Directorate has worked with Island Conservation, the Charles Darwin Foundation, Jocotoco Foundation and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust to remove invasive rats, mice and feral cats from Floreana Island, which supports over 60% of the world's Critically Endangered Galápagos Petrel population; before the intervention, cats and rats caused close to 50% predation of petrel nests.

The eradication phase treated the entire 17,250-hectare island using aerial- and ground-dispersed toxic baits, trapping and hunting, with initial bait application beginning 3 October 2023 and continuing through mid-December 2023. Separate restoration work targets around 1,170 hectares of humid-zone habitat and 54 hectares of dry forest, including a 2.5-hectare ecological corridor planted with 577 seedlings from eight native species.

Land snail populations across eight study sites rose from 61 individuals in 2022 to 883 in 2024, alongside reported rebounds in native birds, lizards and geckos. Reintroduction of 12 locally extinct species, including hybrid Floreana Giant Tortoises and the Floreana Mockingbird, began in early 2024 and is planned to run over at least seven years.

The toxic-bait method causes primary and secondary poisoning of target and some non-target animals, and the headline recovery figures come roughly two years after eradication, from monitoring led by the same institutions executing the project, with the multi-year reintroduction and long-term reinvasion-prevention record still to be proven.