Hawadax Island
Hawadax Iceland ( aleutian: Hawadax until 2012 Council of Iceland ) is an island of the Aleutian Islands and belongs to the group of Islands Council. The western end of the Aleutian island is 26.7 km ² and is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The island received its name in 1827 by Captain Fyodor Petrovich Liitke when he drove off the Aleutian Islands on a voyage around the world. The island and the surrounding rat islets are characterized by strong seismic activity. In 1965 the island had a quake of magnitude 8.7.
Rat population
On the island there is a large population of rats. When in 1780 a Japanese ship was stranded on the coast, came many rats on the island. Through the deliberate introductions of this invasive species, local species of seabirds were decimated. Meanwhile, the rats have spread to 16 neighboring islands. In order to protect the native flora and fauna from further destruction by the rats, they were in 2008 in a einwochenlangen action - fights by dropping poison cookies from helicopters - with reference to the experiences of Campbell Iceland / New Zealand. This seems to be with only minor adverse effects are managed to the other populations.