MADISON, Wis. — Bell Laboratories was recently honored with the Wisconsin Business Friend of the Environment Award in the category of Environmental Stewardship for its work in developing a unique product that successfully controlled devastating rat populations on Anacapa Island in Southern California.
The award recognizes companies that “set the standard for good environment citizenship in Wisconsin,” according to the Wisconsin Environmental Working Group, an affiliate of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which sponsors the annual awards.
Bell Laboratories, one of nine Wisconsin companies to receive awards at a ceremony held in Waukesha, Wis., on July 20, was honored for developing a second-generation rodenticide used to eradicate a non-native black rat population on Anacapa Island, once considered a safe haven for large colonies of seabirds along the southern California coast.
In recent years, however, black rats preying on the eggs of sea birds and the young chicks led to a dramatic decline in both the number and range of sea birds species on the island, including the threatened Xantus’s Murrelet. Working with the Island Conservation and Ecology Group in conjunction with government, naturalist and environmental groups, Bell developed a specific rodenticide tailored to control the rats while addressing the environmental concerns within the island’s unique habitat.
While attractive to black rats, the resulting bait was colored, shaped and sized to make it unappealing to non-targets. Further, it decomposed quickly, ensuring no active ingredients remained in the ecosystem after the completion of the project. And, it was durable enough for aerial application, but sized to minimize drifting, the company said.
“With the success of the Anacapa Island Restoration Project, naturalists and park agencies now can draw from this ambitious rodent eradication project to restore the balance of nature on other islands and habitats overrun by non-native rodent species,” said Peter Martin, Bell Laboratories’ technical director, who spearheaded the product’s development.
Bell Laboratories’ work in this vein continues in the Palmyra Atoll in the south Pacific, Scotland’s Canna Island and the Aleutian Islands.