Officials declare success in eradicating invasive species from popular island: 'This is an achievement'

Japan's Environment Ministry has declared that invasive mongooses have been eradicated from Amami-Oshima Island, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, Kyodo News reported.

Around 30 mongooses — a small, carnivorous mammal known for fighting snakes — were introduced to Amami-Oshima Island in 1979 to deal with habu, a type of venomous viper. This turned out to have been an ill-advised plan, however, as the snakes were nocturnal and the mongooses diurnal, meaning they rarely came into contact with each other.

Instead, without any natural predators, the mongoose population soon swelled to around 10,000 by the turn of the century, posing a grave threat to native wildlife.

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At that point, the Japanese Environment Ministry began to eradicate the mongooses, officially declaring them an invasive species in 2005. Government agencies set up 30,000 mongoose traps on the island and introduced mongoose-sniffing dogs.

Now, after nearly two-and-a-half decades of effort, the ministry has declared Amami-Oshima Island mongoose-free.

"This is an achievement that could contribute to the preservation of rare species and the natural heritage," Environment Minister Shintaro Ito said at a press conference.

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The entire story is a good example of why — as most of the world has come to realize by this point — it is not a great idea to introduce a non-native predatory species to an ecosystem to combat a different species. Even if the mongoose plan had worked to control habu populations (which it did not), it still would have resulted in swapping one set of problems for another, bigger set of problems.

However, this story is also a good example of how it is not too late, in many cases, to undo the environmental damage caused by human blunders, pollution, and habitat destruction.

In another recent success story, a conservation alliance in the Caribbean brought back more than 12 species that were facing extinction by diligently restoring ecosystems over the course of three decades.