Above picture: Friedrich and Janine seabird watching in the Atlantic Ocean off Key Biscayne, Florida, USA
German Citizen Scientists Dr Janine and Dr Dr Friedrich Müller have generously sponsored 29 hectares for the Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project. They live in Wiesbaden, the capital of the State of Hessen.
Friedrich writes to MFM News: “We are both dentists who work together in a private dental practice in Wiesbaden after we studied at the Goethe University of Frankfurt, where we met”. He continues “I have been a birdwatcher since childhood. In 1998 I lived and worked for a year on the Island of Heligoland, a small island in the North Sea, undertaking ornithological research and environmental public relations work. Heligoland is the only breeding place in Germany of a procellariiform species, the Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis. In 2000 I was able to visit the Falkland Islands and get in touch with sub-Antarctic albatrosses, penguins, petrels and shearwaters. This touched me deeply and the experience will last me a lifetime.”
“Since 2022 I have been a bird ringer. With my brother, who lives in Norway, we founded the Sanna Storm-Petrel Ringing Group the same year. The group conducts ringing camps on the Norwegian island of Sanna, Traena to ring European Storm Petrels Hydrobates pelagicus and to educate young participants in scientific field work and environmental matters.
Friedrich, Philipp, Janine and Laurenz Müller, with Bono the dog, on Italy’s Adriatic Coast
“I heard of the MFM Project via Facebook. When I first saw photographs of the House Mice on Marion Island eating albatrosses alive I was shocked and absolutely disgusted. I still cannot think about it without getting sick, leading to a great urge to do something to help the island’s seabirds. I am happy and proud that my wife Janine shares this engagement with me. With our two sons we also support the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society because if the oceans die, we also die. We want to thank the initiators of the MFM Project and are very grateful to its team members who push things forward, get things done and plan tirelessly for the eradication of the mice to help conserve Marion Island’s seabirds. Although Marion Island is far away and out of our sight and its albatrosses do not affect our daily life, we are happy that there are people who still care about them!”
All the MFM Team members are deeply grateful for the support from Friedrich and Janine Müller, and the many others who have given so generously to the Sponsor a Hectare scheme.
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 14 February 2024
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Close-up of a Grey-headed Albatross on Marion Island; photograph and poster design by Michelle Risi
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
