Lord Howe Island - Community Led Biosecurity

Lord Howe Island did not contain any predators until humans introduced animals such as pigs, cats, owls and rodents. Almost all of these invasive species have now been eradicated, but these eradication programs were not without their challenges.

In this lesson, students will use Lord Howe Island’s rodent eradication program as a case study of the positive impact a successfully conducted program in combination with a sense of community stewardship can have on a native environment and local flora and fauna, whilst also considering the challenges of implementing such programs when they are not initially community-led.

They will then form groups to research an introduced species and a potential eradication program, then design informative posters to convince community members to get involved in the eradication measures.