First Patron of Mouse-Free Marion Project

I am honored to have been selected as the first Patron of the Mouse-Free Marion Project, a partnership between the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment and BirdLife South Africa.

South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island is the larger of the two Prince Edward Islands, which together provide globally important breeding sites for seabirds and other wildlife. This island group is home to almost half of the world’s Wandering Albatrosses along with millions of other seabirds.

The accidental introduction of mice in the early 19th century devastated populations of the native invertebrates, and mice have more recently resorted to preying on seabirds. The mice are literally eating the chicks alive and even the adults of both surface-nesting and burrowing seabirds. Without intervention, many species are expected to become locally extinct. In an ambitious undertaking, the Mouse-Free Marion Project aims to remove the introduced mice from Marion Island. In the southern hemisphere winter of 2025 helicopters will spread rodenticide bait across the entire island—the only method that has so far proven successful in eradicating rodents from large islands.

As the project’s first Patron, I am pleased to offer my support toward the Mouse-Free Marion Project that will help conserve the albatrosses and petrels of Marion Island which desperately need our protection and stewardship. Over the coming months and years, I will be sure to provide updates on the progress being made toward the restoration of this globally important sub-Antarctic island. And indeed, work is already underway as the Project Team coordinates new fundraising initiatives and begins the logistical aspects of project planning.

Learn more today at mousefreemarion.org.