i had to go look that up bc i felt like there was probably an ecological disaster behind the title, and hoo boy there was. for anyone who doesnt have time to read the full article, have a summary:

-the mice are invasive and were introduced in the 1800s by sealing ships. the population at present is estimated at about one million mice. earlier attempt to get rid of them involved introducing cats to the island. i'm sure you can guess how well that went. there are no cats on the island as of 1991

-since they arrived there they've progressed from eating the island's invertebrates and sea bird eggs, to eating hatchlings alive, to (as the title suggests) slowly eating the adult sea birds alive

-its not just albatross, there are other threatened and endangered sea bird species that land there and are being preyed on as well. the albatross in particular are mentioned because they didn't evolve with terrestrial predators and don't have a defense against them

-the "bombing" is an aerial delivery of rodenticide pellets scheduled for winter 2027, and it shouldnt affect the native invertebrates or the sea birds (because they feed at sea). they're scheduling it for winter because that's when the mice will be hungriest and they really need to get all of them. if even one breeding pair is left alive then in a few decades we will end up in the same position as things stand right now

i know it's hard for some people to hear about this sort of cull and think of it as a good thing, but they are a threat to a bunch of endangered species, they aren't meant to be there, and since humans created the problem we are the ones that have to fix it

Here’s the prompt list I’m using in case anyone wants to join me in this challenge: