With mice appearing on Marion Island in the 1800s, there was one previous attempt at eradication, with the introduction of five cats to the island in 1948. Unfortunately, the cat population soon swelled to around 2,000, and the cats themselves began eating the birds at a rate of about 450,000 a year.
With the last of the cats being removed in 1991, the government of South Africa considers the new eradication method superior, as it will hopefully only kill the mice and won’t harm either invertebrates on the island or the seabirds, who mostly eat from the ocean.
Source: Yahoo News
