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The Times of India
The Times of India
World
TOI World Desk

In 2000, conservationists eradicated the last cat from Macquarie Island to save its seabirds; without the cats, rabbits exploded and stripped the World Heritage island down to bare ground

What happens when a carefully planned conservation effort goes perfectly and still causes an ecological disaster? Scientists removed an invasive predator on one of the most isolated islands on Earth to protect native seabirds. Within six years, the island looked nothing like it had before. Macquarie Island is one of the most important cautionary tales in modern conservation, and the lessons to be learned from it extend far beyond a remote speck of land in the Southern Ocean.

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