Eradication of feral goats Capra hircus from Pinta Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

Over the last 30 years techniques have been developed to eradicate feral goat populations from islands (Daly, 1989; Veitch & Clout, 2002). These techniques, which include both ground and aerial hunting campaigns, as well as the use of Judas goats, have resulted in the successful eradication of goats from >100 islands worldwide (K. Campbell, unpub. data). The use of Judas goats, radio-collared individuals that are released and associate with conspecifics, aid in removing goats at low densities (Taylor & Katahira, 1988; Rainbolt & Coblentz, 1999). Unfortunately, the majority of eradication efforts remain unpublished, and as a result such knowledge is often unavailable to conservation practitioners (Simberloff, 2001; Donlan et al., 2003). Here, we report on the 30-year eradication campaign of goats from Pinta Island in the Galápagos Archipelago, Ecuador, the largest insular goat population removal using ground-based methods to date. Over 41,000 goats were removed from Pinta during an initial hunting campaign. In the decade following, the island was twice wrongly declared eradicated (Calvopiña, 1985; Evans, 1990), highlighting the need for regular monitoring programmes. Revised hunting techniques and a monitoring programme were implemented in 1999. With this programme in place, the island is now free of goats. Pinta Island (5,940 ha), located in the northern part of the Galápagos archipelago, enjoys protected status and receives little visitation by scientists or managers and Karl Campbell1, Felipe Cruz1 and Victor Carrion Galápagos National Park Service, Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador.