Rat Poison Dropped on East Anacapa Islets

After more than a month of delay, the National Park Service dropped thousands of poisoned pellets over East Anacapa Island Wednesday morning in a long-planned effort to kill its population of black rats.

An animal advocacy group had tried to block the $700,000 eradication program in Channel Islands National Park, contending that the poison would harm other wildlife on the three islets of the island off the Ventura County coast.

But a U.S. District Court judge ruled last month that the park service could proceed with the plan, aimed at saving the Xantus’ murrelet, a small and rare bird that nests on the island. The rats prey on the birds and their eggs.

Within days, most of the rats on the eastern portion of the island should die from eating the bait, said Yvonne Menard, a spokeswoman for the park.

Park service scientists plan to study the effects of the poison on mice, lizards and birds before dropping another round of poison on Middle and West Anacapa next fall.