The successful removal of invasive black rats from Midway Atoll led to an extraordinary recovery of the local Bonin petrel population, which grew from fewer than 5,000 nesting pairs to more than 135,000 pairs. According to long-term conservation research and field reports from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the rat eradication removed a major threat that had pushed the island’s burrowing seabird colonies close to collapse.
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