Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication

[Andrew Taylor <>]

Lord Howe rodent eradication is a fantastic idea but we don't seem to have
learnt from the past.  I visited LH a few years ago and was surprised to
hear a frog, Litoria dentata, which was apparently accidentally introduced
about 1995 presumably from coastal NSW/Qld where its native.

I don't know dentata's current status on LH  but there didn't seem to have
been any attempt to extirpate it then and I haven't heard of any since.
Surely the earlier you tackle an eradication the cheaper, safer and more
convenient it'll be.  And cute little introduced frogs can be a problem:
http://invasions.bio.utk.edu/invaders/coqui.html

A Lampropholis skink was also apparently accidentally introduced to LH
about the same time.  Maybe more difficult to eradicate but if we acted
at first detection, it must have been more tractable.

Andrew