For the whole of June 2025, all donations (including hectare sponsorships) made to the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project will be doubled (while matching funds last). Please help us raise R220 000 by supporting the initiative to save Marion Island’s seabirds. The money raised in June 2025 will support our critical efforts to restore Marion Island as a safe, predator-free breeding ground for albatrosses and burrowing petrels. Past experience on other islands has proved that wildlife rebounds spectacularly following restoration.
The MFM Project provides a rare opportunity for a single, decisive conservation intervention to eliminate a significant biodiversity threat. Unlike many conservation initiatives that rely on long-term mitigation or control measures, this focused operation offers the promise of permanent restoration.
The 1986/87 over-wintering team (M43) on Marion Island when the successful campaign to eradicate the island’s feral cats was well underway. Charlie Pascoe is on the right in the back row; photograph from the South African National Antarctic Programme
The campaign to match donations in celebration of World Albatross Day on 19 June is funded through the generous support of two donors: Charlie Pascoe, a former Marion Island over-winterer (M43, 1986/87), and the seabird guiding company Cape Town Pelagics. Donations can be made through the MFM Project Website by debit or credit card or via direct transfer to the MFM bank account. Please send proof of payment to donations@mousefreemarion.org or contact us at info@mousefreemarion.org for more information.
Just two days into the month, we are delighted to report that a large donation has already been received, which – on doubling – has added R10 000 to the project’s funds. Any amount counts, whether big or small, so please make yours and keep them coming!
* Please note that donations made to fulfil pledges made during the Flock to Marion AGAIN 2025 voyage or the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds Gala event in Switzerland are not eligible for the matched donations campaign.
Robyn Adams, Mouse-Free Marion Project Communications Officer and Project Assistant, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 02 June 2025
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At risk to attacks by mice on Marion Island. A Grey-headed Albatross stands on its empty nest. Watercolour by Lea Finke of Artists & Biologists for Nature, after a photograph by Stefan Schoombie
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.
