IN 1995, Godfrey Merlen, director of the environment group WorldAid, visited Isabela, an island in the Galapagos, off the Northwest coast of South America. What he saw horrified him. Hundreds of goats were chewing their way across its grasslands and were denuding the once-lush terrain, transforming it into patchy grassland. “It was total chaos,” said Merlen in the journal Science. Merlen’s discovery sent shock waves through the environmental movement. For years, it had struggled to save these magical equatorial islands, home to some of the world’s most exotic animals, from destruction caused by feral animals such as goats, pigs, cats and rats. Now it seemed the place where Charles Darwin made his key discoveries in his path to outlining the idea of natural selection was about to be destroyed. The development galvanised environmentalists and led to the setting up of a $19 million rescue programme to fight invasive species. Recently, campaigners announced the first major victory: the islands of Isabela, Santiago and Pinta were now officially goat-free, it was revealed — an act of species-cleansing that required the killing of 140,000 goats. To rid themselves of the goats, sharp shooters were hired, packs of tracker dogs were imported from New Zealand, helicopters were used to ferry marksmen into the remote hearts of islands, while ‘Judas’ goats — sterilised females, plied with hormones — were used to entice solitary male goats towards hunters and their doom. In addition, scientists warn of the danger of mosquitoes and birds bringing in the West Nile virus and avian flu. An epidemic would have horrific effect on Galapagos wildlife.
