“As scientists our job is to not intervene,” says Stefan.

Well, how about you act as human beings, if that's possibe..?

It didn’t take long for the mice to start feeding on the albatross chick. “The bird was a complete fluffball,” says Janine. “So, they just climbed up its back and started nibbling at its head. We could see their teeth going into its flesh.” The bird, too young to walk let alone fly, could only shake its head in irritation. “As scientists our job is to not intervene,” says Stefan. “But we really wanted to help that bird.

Did they? Sadly, Reader, no... 

”The next morning, they returned to the site to find that the chick had been joined by one of its parents – but the adult bird could also do nothing. “It was such a hopeless situation,” says Janine. A few days later, the chick succumbed to its injuries and was eaten by giant petrels.

Thankfully, the decisions haven't been left to scientists, but to those less squeamish about eradicating out-of-place vermin.

Assuming the project achieves its funding targets, these tests will culminate in the winter of 2028 when five or six helicopters (brought to the island by ship) will distribute poisoned bait across the entire island, in an attempt to eliminate the pests that were unintentionally introduced to the island by 19th-century sailors. If successful, it will be the largest ever eradication of mice in a single operation.

Though eradicating other menaces may prove harder: 

The efforts to start improving the fortunes of the island’s birds could not have come at a better time. Last week, the South African goverment announced that bird flu had been confirmed as present on the island for the first time.

The decision to eradicate the mice was not taken lightly, says MFM project manager Anton Wolfaardt: “I’m a biologist,” he says. “I don’t like killing things.”

How did you manage a biology degree without dissection, then? 

The 'Experts' Speak...

It is an exercise in devotion, but some scientists are questioning whether keeping an infant whale on a type of human life-support for this long is ethical.

This is the orca calf found stranded in New Zealand; humans - being human - did their level best to nurse it back to health abd reunite it with its pod, while the experts....errr, well, looked forward to killing it. For science...

Dr Karen Stockin, a marine biologist, said internationally recognised practice for separated cetaceans this young is either lifelong human care or euthanasia.

“New Zealand has no captive or rehabilitation facility that could support Toa. Of course, we all crave a Disney happy ending, but what matters most here is not our understandable human sentiment and emotion, but notably the viability and welfare of Toa.”

Frankly, I care more for the welfare and viability of the whale than I do for scientists with an axe to grind about their fellow humans.  

Annie Potts, a professor in human-animal studies at the University of Canterbury, highlighted the incongruence between how humans treat a whale calf compared with, say, the farming of bobby calves for veal.

Why is it 'incongruent'? One species is a rare wild animal, another a domestic species we raise in their thousands for food. Don't they have any dictionaries in your lab? 

“We reserve our love, compassion and empathy for ‘extraordinary species’ like whales which we can celebrate ‘saving’.”

Well, you must be turning cartwheels of joy to learn this morning that the rescue attempt was in vain. 

But consider this - for a short time, this whale calf brought more concern and joy to the people of New Zealand than would ever be shown to scientists...