European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 24, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Nit Tum twing giant lend Tortoise la one of 150,000 that live on Al Lattra atoll in the Seychelles it Anil one of last unspoiled natural environments on Earth it s goats is. Giant tortoises on an Indian Ocean Island byjoe Waschenbach National geographic Ruce Coblentz has his orders shoot All 1,000 goats on Aldabra atoll. Armed Wilh Small Caliper Rilles he will travel More than 10,500 Miles Early this year 10 the most isolated of the Seychelles to begin Trie task of killing the feral goats that threaten one of the last unspoiled natural environments on Earth. Aldabra a ring of Coral islands encircling a Large Lagoon in a Western Indian Ocean is Home to 150,000 giant land tortoises. H is the world s largest population More than 10 times that on the Galapagos islands the Only other natural population. It is also Home to the last Colony of flightless White throated rails rare Brush warblers frigate Birds Green turtles and robber crabs. In 1982 this natural wonder was designated a United nations world heritage site. Goats Don t belong there. And at the moment they Are among the greatest threats to Aldabra s extraordinary ecosystem. A number of Island ecosystems around the world Are endangered More by foreign organisms than by any other actor says Coblentz a wildlife ecologist at Oregon state University. Introduced ipe Fet. Brought by settlers or dropped Olf by passing sailors often have no natural predators on the islands and Are Able to Over populate and out compete native species disrupting the delicate ecological balance. Goats pigs dogs cats and rats As Well As a Host of insects and exotic plants have had a destructive Impact on Island systems such As Hawaii new zealand California s Channel islands and Ecuador s Galapagos. No one knows How the goats got to Aldabra. Scant records indicate that they have been there at least since 1s78, but it is possible they were led centuries earlier by Arab or portuguese sailors. The Aldabra goal population has nearly doubled recently from about 500 in 1977 to about 1,000 in 1985, says biologist Margaret Gould Burke of the University of North Dakota. Burke whose research was supported in part by the National geographic society was the first scientist to study Aldabra s goats. She is not certain what caused the sudden swell in their numbers but believes it May be the abundant rainfall of the last 10 years. Rain increases the growth of Bushes and Trees the goats thrive on. Rainwater puddles provide their Only source of fresh water. Cunlif u who use Aldabra As a natural Laboratory Are not As alarmed by the Tola number of goats As they Are by their recent rapid reproduction. Goats have a tremendous potential Lor reproducing at even greater rates. Already they Are changing Aldabra s vegetation. Hungry goats can stand on their Hind legs and eat everything up to 6 feet Burke says. Giant tortoises can crawl on top of one another to get leaves Oil Bushes but the goats High browse line is out of reach of even the most agile of tortoises says David r Stiddam of the University of Cambridge England. Stoddart was a Leader in the Campaign to save Aldabra and is on the Board of the Seychelles islands foundation. Shooting this goats is the most humane Eft Clive and quickest  says Coblenz who with a partner will Start by killing the 200 to 300 on lie Malabar one of Aldabra s four main islands it won t look pretty Lor a time he says. But the Only economical Way is o leave the carcasses to Recycle into she  in the race with the Goat the Tortoise May to saturday january 24, 1967 winning but the ancient creature has struggled to survive. Trie tortoises were in danger of becoming extinct by the Lata 19th Century because they had been hunted for centuries by sailors. Some protective measures were taken in the Early 20th Century but they were almost impossible to enforce. Not until 1953, when undersea explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau sailed to Aldabra did interest in protecting its wildlife revive. But in the mid-1960s this Island jewel encountered its worst threat. Part of the British Indian Ocean territory at the time Aldabra was targeted As the site of a military sir Baas and a bbl transmitter station and Tower. The 5,000-foot runway was to be paved straight through the area of greatest Tortoise concentration. When details of the plan emerged the Royal society of London and a smithsonian institution led the fight against the military takeover. Stoddart was sent on a reconnaissance Mission in 1966. The beaches were covered with tortoises. Without turning your head you could count a couple Hundred at once he recalls. Nothing a bean built on Aldabra except a research station. Stoddart who has championed the Island Lor 20 years and whose 19-year-old daughter is named Aldabra says it has survived unspoiled largely because of its geography. Aldabra lies Oil the major Ocean shipping routes. It takes our to five Days to get there by boat chartered from the main Seychelles Island. Marie Aldabra is inhospitable lashed by dangerous currents 12-foot tides and High winds. Much of its terrain is deeply jagged razor Sharp Rock and covered by impenetrable shrubbery. Uninhabited except for the Small staff Manning the research station the Island had Only 20 visitors in 1986. Most of them scientists and journalists. The stars and stripes Page 17