Efforts to eradicate ferrets entirely are well underway on Rathlin Island, off the coast of Co. Antrim.
The conservation project LIFE Raft (Rathlin acting for tomorrow) is aiming to eradicate the species in order to ensure the survival of puffins on the island.
John Kelly, the LIFE Raft senior programme manager provided an update on the eradication project and said 100 ferrets have been caught on Rathlin Island through project and community trapping.
“Given that the catching rate has slowed right down and there have been fewer and fewer sightings of tracks and scat, we are cautiously optimistic that the first push of the project has been a success,” Kelly said.
Rathlin island conservation project
This month, Kelly said the “intensive process” of finding “any last ferrets” is set to begin on the island.
Kelly said: “If a single male and female pair remains, they will repopulate. But we have the team, the tools, the amazing support of the Rathlin community, and we’re ready to go.
“We always know proving the absence of ferrets on Rathlin will be a real challenge for our team. While we are confident we are on the right track, we will not be able to say with certainty that we’ve been successful until spring 2025.
On Rathlin, puffins have been forced to nest far down the cliffs to evade ferrets, but there are very few places on island that a rat cannot reach.
Progress in eradications can feel “bitter-sweet”, according to Kelly, who said it is “not a celebration,” but is “instead a grateful recognition that the hard but necessary task of eradicating ferrets appears to be on the right track”.
Catching ferrets
There are over 450 traps on the island, and the traps will contain or humanely kill ferrets that enter them.
The LIFE Raft team has said the ferrets will be comfortable around the traps which gives the team the best chance of catching them.
Through a long range wide area network (LoRaWAN) sensor, the LIFE Raft team will be alerted when the trap sensor is triggered, and know that they have to check that trap within 24 hours. Most of the kill traps have these as well.
As LIFE Raft moves into a period of intensive monitoring for ferrets, with each passing day, the team will also focus more on the rat eradication project.
