RATS

Rats are present on four of the eight California Channel Islands: San Miguel, Santa Catalina, San Nicolas and San Clemente islands. They are currently not found on Santa Barbara, Anacapa, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa islands. Black rats (Rattus rattus) may have been introduced by a shipwreck on San Miguel Island. On Anacapa Island where rats were once prolific, the National Park Service began a rat-poisoning program in 2001, dropping poison pellets by helicopter. The controversial program is thought to have been successful in eliminating rats from Anacapa Island. Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) are also found on Santa Catalina Island.

Rats: Anacapa Island

• Black Rat (Rattus rattus)

Black rats (Rattus rattus) were introduced to all three Anacapa islets, but the time of introduction cannot be determined. They may have arrived as early as the 1853 wreck of the Winfield Scott. Early specimens were obtained by Richard M. Bond in 1940 and are at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, UC Berkeley. A decade after a $3,000,000 extermination effort, Anacapa Island was declared rat-free by Channel Islands National Park in 2013. Since that time, the Western Gull population has greatly increased. Rats are no longer preying on their eggs.

ISLAND	COLLECTOR	INSTITUTION	DATE	NUMBER	SPECIMEN	DEPARTMENT
Anacapa Island	Richard Bond	MVZ	May 17, 1940	MVZ 91055	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	Richard Bond	MVZ	May 17, 1940	MVZ-91056	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	Richard Bond	MVZ	May 17, 1940	MVZ-91057	Rattus rattus	Mammals
~ trip ~
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 16, 1940	LACM-007411	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 16, 1940	LACM-007412	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 17, 1940	LACM-007413	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 17, 1940	LACM-007414	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 18, 1940	LACM-007415	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 18, 1940	LACM-007702	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 18, 1940	LACM-007703	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 18, 1940	LACM-007422	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 21, 1940	LACM-007416	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 21, 1940	LACM-007417	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 21, 1940	LACM-007418	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 21, 1940	LACM-007419	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 22, 1940	LACM-007420	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 22, 1940	LACM-007421	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 24, 1940	LACM-007423	Rattus rattus	Mammals
Anacapa Island	J. C. Von Bloeker	LACM	August 29, 1940	LACM-007424	Rattus rattus	Mammals

June 27, 1907 [SBMP]: “Anacapa may be stocked with game birds. Captain Bay Webster, lessee of Anacapa Island, will stock that little rock off in the Pacific with coast quail, if the authorities will give him permission. He has made application to the State game commissioners. If permission is granted, which is expected, Captain Webster will immediately proceed to trap a number of pairs of the little birds and take them to his preserve, twenty miles off shore. Anacapa would be a prime place for the raising of quail. There are no wild animals whatever on the island, such as foxes, wild cats, skunks, weasels or the like, nor are there any snakes or other living things, outside of rats, and it is not thought these latter would bother the birds, preferring to live in the fish leavings and about the houses of the island fishermen. The rats were left on the island by the wreck of the old steamer Winfield Scott in 1849 [1853]. At one time there were hordes of them, but they are getting scarce now. The quails put on the island would have a free run and would, it is thought, increase rapidly.”

December 2, 2001 [LAT]: “I was shocked in these supposedly environmentally conscious times the national parks department is planning to airdrop poison onto Anacapa Island to exterminate a population of black rats. The anticoagulant poison causes lengthy pain and suffering to all its victims. The chemical is not approved by the EPA for wilderness use, but somehow an exemption was received for Anacapa Island. The problem is the environmental domino effect. The poison will travel through the entire food chain, killing more than the targeted rats.”

Rats: San Miguel Island

• Black Rat (Rattus rattus)

September 16-October 5, 1927 [Chester Lamb field notes]: “I am told there are no snakes or rats on the island [San Miguel Island].”

Rats: Santa Catalina Island

• Black Rat (Rattus rattus)
• Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus)