From rats to riches: Redonda’s incredible transformation

FROM RATS TO RICHES

It’s been described as the Caribbean’s greatest rebirth story. The incredible transformation of Redonda from a barren hulk of rock to a thriving wildlife haven captured the hearts and minds of naturalists and nature lovers the world over.

Antigua and Barbuda’s lesser known third island has no resorts, no amenities and no beaches. What makes this milelong volcanic isle so special is its status as a key nesting site for migrating birds and the home of wildlife found nowhere else on Earth.

Redonda’s status as a sanctum for everything from red-footed boobies to critically endangered reptiles now looks set to be preserved by law.

The uninhabited tiny islet is to be officially designated as a protected area by the government, safeguarding it for generations to come.

W hen environmentalists first raised the idea of entirely removing thousands of invasive black rats and a herd of feral goats threatening its wildlife, it seemed ambitious at best.

The uninhabited tiny islet is to be officially designated as a protected area by the government, safeguarding it for generations to come.

Work began in 2016 to relocate around 75 long-horned goats - introduced by early colonists 300 years ago – which had steadily eaten almost all of the vegetation that once attracted nesting birds. The absence of most of the island’s plants had also left the goats with very little food.

They were corralled and flown by helicopter to farmers in Antigua keen to breed them for their drought-hardy genes.

The most challenging part of the project was the eradication of 6,000 invasive black rats that had arrived with a 19th century guano mining community and were preying on reptiles and eating rare birds’ eggs.

Bait laced with a pesticide irresistible to rats but unpalatable to other creatures was laboriously laid in nooks and crannies across the landscape.

The work was undertaken by the country’s Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) in sync with international partners including Fauna & Flora International (FFI).

FFI has successfully eliminated nonnative mammals from around 25 islands since 1995, but Redonda’s unforgiving topography presented special obstacles.

THE INCREDIBLE TRANSFORMATION OF THE COUNTRY’S THIRD ISLAND OF REDONDA FROM BARREN ROCK TO WILDLIFE HAVEN

The EAG team en route to Redonda (left), which is pictured before work began (photo by Jenny Daltry) and later as vegetation started to grow back.

Severe erosion caused by deforestation had left it dangerously unstable with crumbling precipices and frequent rock falls.

Redonda was officially declared rat and goat-free in July 2018. The team made regular trips back to monitor progress before transportation problems were exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

Brown boobies with chicks, red-billed tropicbirds, frigates and peregrine falcons were among the sights which greeted them on their return in late 2020.

The EAG’s Shanna Challenger described it as an “emotional moment”.

“It was such a stark contrast to what I saw the first time I went over there in 2016 when the island was literally crumbling into the sea,” she said.

The resurgence of trees and plants

has spawned new populations of wildlife. Numbers of the island’s endemic tree lizard have tripled, while the ground lizard population has soared six-fold.

The island ’s erstwhile 17 plant species have also skyrocketed to 88, including a new ficus tree, cactus and fern, while more than a dozen species of land birds have reappeared.

“It was a very exciting, humbling and amazing moment to see the impacts of our conservation work so obviously and visually displayed,” Challenger recalled.

Last summer, a movie documenting Redonda’s journey from rats to riches was released by the EAG. ‘Redonda: The Road to Recovery’ played at Caribbean Cinemas in Friars Hill Road, preceded by a red carpet premiere.

Photo

W ith visitors restricted from going to Redonda while it is still in the early stages of its recovery, the movie – which the EAG plans to eventually release online –offers the public a glimpse of the isle in all its new fecund glory.

Photo middle left - Red-footed boob (photo by Ed Marshall).

bottom left - Redonda tree lizard (photo by Geoffrey Giller).

Photo above - All of Redonda’s goats were removed from the island and taken to Antigua.

FFI’s Dr Jenny Daltry said Redonda is today “a model” for how other Caribbean islands where invasive species have devastated indigenous wildlife can be brought back to life.

“Redonda has transformed, right before our eyes and quicker than we’d believed possible, from bare rock into a green jewel of an island,” she said.

“At a time when so much of the news about the state of our planet is understandably downbeat, the rebirth of this island shows that if we give nature a chance, it can and will bounce back.” n

By Gemma Handy

Visit www.facebook.com/EAGAntigua or email eagantigua@gmail.com for more details or to support the EAG’s work.

Photo bottom right - Juvenile brown booby (photo by Tom Aveling).