Tennessee angler reals in a big one: an alligator

Maynardville, Tennessee (AP) — A fisherman at a lake in northeastern Tennessee caught a surprise at the end of his line when he pulled up a 3- to 4-foot-long alligator.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said their Union County wildlife officer Rick Roberts got a call from the angler March 18 describing the unusual catch at Norris Lake. When Roberts arrived, the angler had pinned the alligator to the ground behind its head and told Roberts he caught it on a swimbait.

Alligators are not native to that part of Tennessee and are considered a Class 1 wildlife species, which are those that are inherently dangerous to humans and may only be possessed by permitted exhibitors or commercial propagators.

Matthew Cameron, regional communications coordinator for TWRA, said the alligator was taken to Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue, an exotic animal rescue facility in Clinton, Tenn.

“While the origin of the alligator is unclear, it is evident that it was being illegally held in captivity and possibly released into Norris Lake,” Cameron said in an email.

He said the zoo doesn’t normally house alligators, so the operators are looking for a permanent home for the gator.

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SOUTH AFRICA

Warming Island’s Mice Breeding Out of Control

Cape Town, South Africa (AP) — Mice accidentally introduced to a remote island near Antarctica 200 years ago are breeding out of control because of climate change, officials say, and they are eating seabirds and causing major harm in a special nature reserve with “unique biodiversity.”

Now, conservationists are planning a mass extermination using helicopters and hundreds of tons of rodent poison, which needs to be dropped over every part of Marion Island’s 115 square miles to ensure success.

If even one pregnant mouse survives, their prolific breeding ability means it may have all been for nothing.

The Mouse-Free Marion project – pest control on a grand scale – is seen as critical for the said Dr. Anton Wolfaardt, the Mouse-Free Marion project manager. He said their numbers have increased hugely, mainly due to rising temperatures, which have turned a cold, windswept island into a warmer, drier, more hospitable home.

“They are probably one of the most successful animals in the world. They’ve got to all sorts of places,” Wolfaardt said. But now on Marion Island, “Their breeding season has been extended, and this has resulted in a massive increase in the densities of mice.” ecology of the uninhabited South African territory and the wider Southern Ocean. It would be the largest eradication of its kind if it succeeds.

The island is home to globally significant populations of nearly 30 bird species and a rare undisturbed habitat for wandering albatrosses – with their 10-foot wingspan – and many others.

Native species were undisturbed until stowaway house mice arrived on seal hunter ships in the early 1800s, introducing the island’s first mammal predators.

The past few decades have been the most significant for the damage the mice have caused,

Mice don’t need encouragement.

They can reproduce from about 60 days old and females can have four or five litters a year, each with seven or eight young.

Rough estimates indicate there are more than a million mice on Marion Island. They are feeding on invertebrates and, more and more, on seabirds – both chicks in their nests and adults.

A single mouse will feed on a bird several times its size. Environmentalists snapped a photo of one perched on the bloodied head of a wandering albatross chick.

The phenomenon of mice eating seabirds has been recorded on only a handful of the world’s islands.

The scale and frequency of mice preying on seabirds on Marion has risen alarmingly, Wolfaardt said, after the first reports of it in 2003. He said the birds have not developed the defense mechanisms to protect themselves against the unfamiliar predators and often sit there while mice nibble away at them. Sometimes multiple mice swarm a bird.

The eradication project is a single shot at success. Wolfaardt said four to six helicopters will likely be used to drop up to 550 tons of rodenticide bait across the island. Pilots will be given exact flight lines and Wolfaardt’s team will be able to track the drop using GPS mapping.

The bait has been designed to not affect the soil or the island’s water sources. It shouldn’t harm seabirds, which feed at sea, and won’t have negative impacts for the environment, Wolfaardt said. Some animals will be affected at an individual level, but those species will recover.

Wolfaardt said the amount of planning needed means a likely go-ahead date in 2027. The project also needs to raise around $25 million – some of which has been funded by the South African government – and get final regulatory approvals from authorities.