It was sailors in the late 18th century who unintentionally introduced rats to what had been a fresh environment. “If we can destroy the rats, at least 100 million birds will return to their home on South Georgia,” says Tony Martin, a biology professor at the University of Dundee who was invited to lead the project.
South Georgia is by far the largest island to get rid of animals that destroy native wildlife after being introduced deliberately or accidentally by people. Though rats and mice have done the most damage, cats, foxes, goats, deer, rabbits and other species have been targeted in the campaigns around the world.
South Georgia is seven times the size of New Zealand’s Campbell Island, currently the largest area ever killing rats. The successful war against Campbell Island rats was carried our in 2001 with 132 tons of poison dropped from five helicopters.
“New Zealand pioneered the techniques for ridding islands of rats and in fact our operation on South Georgia is based on New Zealand’s technology.” Says Martin. “Some New Zealanders will be helping our campaign, including our chief pilot, Peter Garden, who was also chief pilot for the projects at Campbell Island and Rat Island, in the Aleutian chain of the north Pacific.”
The second and third stages in 2013 and 2014 will involve dropping as much as 300 tons of poison from the air onto every part of the island where rats might live. It is a huge operation, carried out during the stormy southern autumn when the rats are hungry and the risks of poisoning native wildlife are less than in the spring and summer months. “Ideally we’d do in winter but the weather makes that too risky,” Martin says.
The ecological payback will be priceless. But Martin says, “The full benefits will take decades to arrive, because some of these birds are slow to hatch.”
小题1:According to the passage, how did the rats appear on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia ?
A．They were attracted there by wildlife.
B．They escaped there from Campbell Island.
C．They were introduced there by sailors accidently.
D．They were brought in by people deliberately.小题2:Which of the following is True about Peter Garden ?
A．He is in charge of the campaign on the sub-Antarctic island.
B．He will be the only pilot for the project on the sub-Antarctic island.
C．He will benefit a lot from the campaign on the sub-Antarctic island.
D．He made great contributions to the project at Campbell Island and Rat Island.小题3:The operation of ridding South Georgia of rats is to carried out in autumn because _________.
A．the war against Campbell Island rats failed in all seasons except autumn.
B．only then do the New Zealanders to help the operation have the spare time.
C．rats then need more food and the operation does less harm to native wildlife.
D．the poison kills rats more effectively than it does in any other season.小题4:What can we infer from the passage?.
A．The campaign of killing rats will benefit the native wildlife in a short time.
B．Rats aren’t the only species to be blamed for the disappearance of wildlife.
C．The first stage of killing rats on the sub-Antarctic island didn’t make great achievements.
D．The campaign in South Georgia will fully follow in the footsteps of that on Campbell Island.
