LIFE+ Pétrels — Predator Control & Light-Pollution Reduction for Endemic Seabirds (Réunion, France)

LIFE+ Pétrels (EU reference LIFE13 BIO/FR/000075) ran from July 2014 to July 2020, with a total eligible budget of EUR 3,100,500 (50% EU co-funded), coordinated by Parc national de La Réunion with SEOR (Société d'Etudes Ornithologiques de La Réunion), Université de La Réunion, the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) and more than 30 local and national partners. It aimed to halt the decline of Réunion Island's endemic Barau's and Mascarene petrels through predator control and light-pollution reduction.

The programme combined feral-cat trapping (98 cats captured over more than 6,500 hectares in 2016 alone; a park-sourced tally cites 440 cats captured via cage traps plus 8 via lethal devices across 2015-2020) with rat control on Barau's petrel nesting sites (about 5 hectares treated over repeated passes in 2016), and a 'Nuits sans Lumière' light-pollution campaign that cut fledgling-disorientating light by 15% and targeted renovation of over 26,000 light points, alongside the 'SOS Petrels' fledgling-rescue scheme.

For the Mascarene petrel, one of the world's rarest seabirds, the project discovered its first-ever known nests (2-4 colonies, 18 active sites), with breeding success rising from 0% to roughly 78-80% between 2016 and 2020 as predator pressure was reduced. Barau's petrel monitoring covered 320-plus burrows across two colonies, with 366 adults and 796 fledglings banded and 97 birds fitted with tracking devices. Predation is not eliminated: feral cats remain described by the national park as a threat that is 'hard to stem', with lethal control continuing alongside sterilisation. No peer-reviewed publication of the project's outcomes was located.