This year the Australian Antarctic Division celebrated World Albatross Day by watching a video on the successful Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Program

Jonathon Barrington, ACAP Executive Secretary, addresses the Australian Antarctic Division during its World Albatross Day morning tea, photograph from Mandi Livesey

There was not the usual cake competition and banner display by the Australian Antarctic Division on in Kingston, Tasmania this year to celebrate World Albatross Day with its 2026 theme of “Habitat Restoration”.  Instead, staff gathered over morning tea in the AAD’s Kingston headquarters in Tasmania on Monday 22nd to mark the WAD2026 theme by celebrating the success of the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Program (MIPEP) with a short video made in 2014.

“Macquarie Island is a landscape transformed.  Ten years after the island was declared free of rabbits, rats and mice, the vegetation is flourishing.  Scientists and managers are now building on the success of this conservation triumph, to ensure the future of the World Heritage listed island and its wildlife”

Australian Antarctic Division staff at World Albatross Day morning tea, photograph from Mandi Livesey

“Sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island was so badly ravaged by rabbits, rats and mice that its wildlife populations were fighting for survival.  Rodents were [preying upon] invertebrates and eggs, and hillside erosion – exacerbated by rabbits – was leading to landslides that in one instance, killed hundreds of king penguins at Lusitania Bay.  Acknowledging the seriousness of that threat, in 2007 the Tasmanian and Federal governments funded an ambitious three-year, $25 million campaign to wipe out all three pest species at once.

It relied on a targeted strategy of aerial baiting, release of the calicivirus, and dogs to ensure the last of the rabbits and rodents were eradicated.  Dogs and their handlers scoured the island twice over, covering more than 90,000 km until in 2014, no rat, mouse or rabbit had been seen for the required two-year period and the island was declared pest free.”

With thanks to Mandi Livesey, Policy and Strategy Branch, Australian Antarctic Division

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 24 June 2026