In 1937, Australian scientists released infected rabbits on an island to test a virus that would later transform rabbit control across the continent |

A European rabbit in Tasmania. Image Credit: JJ Harrison/Wikipedia In 1937, Australian scientists took an unusual step in the fight against one of the country’s most destructive pests known as ‘rabbits.’ They released rabbits carrying ‘myxoma virus’ on Wardang Island, off South Australia, to see whether the disease could spread naturally. The experiment was part…

Read More

In 1964, a 27-year-old woman bought an abandoned 18 acre island off Maine and built a small house to live there alone; 22 years later the island was donated to become a wildlife sanctuary

Before it was a wildlife sanctuary, it was a woman’s abode. Witch Island is an approximately 18-acre land area off the coast of South Bristol, Maine, United States. Named after the woman who used to live there, it was sold off to another who donated it to become a wildlife sanctuary, as per a report…

Read More

In 1966, a 71-year-old woman donated nearly 100 acres of her Virginia farm and money for an amphitheatre; the land became America’s only national park dedicated to the performing arts

Wolf Trap remains the only national park in the United States devoted to the performing arts, advancing the concept Shouse first put forth more than six decades ago Before it became a stage beneath the stars, Wolf Trap was simply a Virginia farm. But in the 1960s, one woman had a very different dream for…

Read More

A Costa Rican mother saved for 9 years to buy land, then built her home with 7 tonnes of recycled plastic | World News

Cindy Mora and her son’s home used about 850 blocks made from recycled plastic, PC: Econews Cindy Mora Abarca spent 9 years saving money for a small plot of land in the Lámparas neighbourhood of Alajuelita, near San José, Costa Rica, hoping to eventually build a permanent home for herself and her 6-year-old son, Fabrizio….

Read More

In 1960, Chicago gave Japan’s future emperor 18 bluegill as a friendship gift, and their descendants spread in Japan and reached an estimated 25 million in Lake Biwa | World News

A bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) at the University of Mississippi Field Station. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons  When Crown Prince Akihito visited Chicago in October 1960, his sole request was to visit the city’s Shedd Aquarium. The 26-year-old heir to the Japanese throne was already a serious student of fish biology, and the aquarium stop was less…

Read More

In 1951, a New Jersey couple bought 185 acres as a summer retreat after which an injured owl turned their property into a wildlife refuge | World News

Jim and Betty Woodford. Image Credit: Cedar Run Wildlife refuge In 1951, Jim and Betty Woodford bought 185 acres in what was then the largely undeveloped Medford Township, New Jersey, hoping to create a summer retreat. But the land became the foundation for a lifelong commitment to wildlife. According to the Cedar Run website, the…

Read More

In the 1980s, ferrets were released on Northern Ireland’s Rathlin Island to control rabbits; decades later, they threatened seabirds at a colony of more than 250,000 birds

Ferrets were released on Rathlin Island in the mid-1980s, off the north coast of Northern Ireland, to deal with the island’s rabbit population | Wikimedia Commons Ferrets were released on Rathlin Island in the mid-1980s, off the north coast of Northern Ireland, to deal with the island’s rabbit population. The ferrets established a feral population…

Read More

In the 1990s, a predatory flatworm was released in Samoa to control giant African snails; it later became linked to the decline and extinction of native island snails

In the 1990s, a predatory flatworm was released in Samoa to control giant African snails An aggressive predatory flatworm introduced to Pacific islands during the 1990s to control agricultural pests has pushed native land snail species toward extinction, turning a planned biological control program into an ecological disaster. The New Guinea flatworm (Platydemus manokwari) was…

Read More