On a Mediterranean island off Italy, a conservation project aimed at removing an invasive rodent produced a change that could be seen in the seabird colony. Zannone had been among the larger Italian islands targeted in the country’s expanding rat eradication programme. The work was part of a wider effort to remove black rats from islands where they posed a threat to native wildlife, particularly seabirds that nest in burrows. On Zannone, the eradication was completed in 2007. The number of breeding pairs of Scopoli’s shearwater subsequently rose from 27 in 2007 to 80 in 2016, giving conservationists a clear example of how removing an introduced predator could alter the fortunes of an island bird colony.
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