Frozen Rat

One Frozen Rat

A frozen rat is not the usual thing you would expect to see in Doctor Kevin’s medical clinic deep freeze.  Why exactly does he have this rat neatly packaged and ready for transportation to New Zealand? 

This is the famous Henderson Island rat, subject of an expensive and time consuming eradication project. When the National Geographic team was on Henderson Island they spotted this little fellow peering out of the undergrowth.  Where there is one rat, there are usually more, so this news was greeted with dismay. We had all hoped that the one concerted effort of the rat eradication team in 2011 had been sufficient to rid Henderson Island of all the pesky little vermin. Not so, some rats survived and still need to be exterminated so that the natural bird life of Henderson can recover and thrive. 

Grant Harper, a specialist from New Zealand arrived on the yacht ‘Xplore’ and then was joined by Pitcairn Islanders Pawl Warren, Sue O’Keefe and Ariel Brown for a trip out to Henderson to ascertain the degree of the problem. A sample rat was brought back and lucky Doctor Kevin has the privilege of storing it for a few weeks. The medical clinic is the only place that has 24 hour power to keep the medicines at the correct temperature.