Home / Environment / Island Haven Reborn: Rats Gone, Doves Return!
Island Haven Reborn: Rats Gone, Doves Return!
27 Sep
Summary
- Remote atoll sees native ground dove population double within five years.
- Ambitious 2015 project eradicated invasive rats, rabbits, and cats from six islands.
- Success offers a model for future large-scale island restoration projects.
Vahanga, a remote coral atoll in French Polynesia, has witnessed a remarkable recovery of its native Polynesian ground dove population. Within five years of a large-scale eradication project launched in 2015, the dove population on Vahanga doubled.
This ambitious initiative, involving BirdLife International, Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie, and Island Conservation, targeted invasive rats, rabbits, and feral cats across six islands in the archipelago. Previously, the entire global population of Polynesian ground doves existed precariously on a single predator-free island, making them vulnerable to extinction.
The success on Vahanga is significant as it shows a species can recolonize its former range after threats are removed, without human intervention. The Tuamotu sandpiper also shows signs of recovery on the restored islands.
This project has become a model for other conservation efforts, proving that complex, multi-island restoration expeditions can yield measurable results in a relatively short time.
