Woe The Arboreal Salamander -- A Parable For Our Time

The Farallon Islands , 27 miles off the coast of San Francisco, are crawling with nonnative house mice. The mouse population has  become  "plague-like" as  their population has grown to 60,000 or so mice - about 500 mice per acre.
"The goal is to have as healthy an ecosystem as possible," said Bradford Keitt, the director of conservation for Island Conservation.  Not happening when the mice eat  the food of Native species such as the Farallon arboreal salamander.
BUT — The issue, according to animal welfare groups, is that the solution might be worse than the problem. Federal regulators are considering a plan to bomb the island with pesticide pellets to kill the mice.  "Our concern is there will be non-targeted species that are affected," said Maggie Sergio, from Wildcare. "Anything that eats those poisoned rodents will die of secondary poisoning.”  …  Maybe even the Aboreal salamander?
The Farallons have been exploited by humans since 1579 when Sir Francis Drake landed and his crew gathered seabird eggs and seals for meat. The wholesale slaughtering began 1810, when New England seal hunters landed on the islands and killed between 75,000 and 150,000 Northern fur seals and Northern elephant seals. When the New Englanders left, Russians from Fort Ross moved in. By the time the Russians left in 1841, fur seals and elephant seals had been completely wiped out along the California coast.
Article by Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer pfimrite@sfchronicle.com.