Not surprisingly, eradicating the albatross-killing House Mice on 30 000-ha Marion Island is going to be an expensive operation. It will, after all, be the world’s largest island where such an eradication will be attempted in a single operation. The Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project team is working hard, both locally and internationally, to raise the necessary funds from foundations, institutions and from generous benefactors to achieve this goal.
41.6% of the “Sponsor a Hectare” total has been achieved by September 2025
In addition to this primary effort, there is an opportunity for the concerned public to support the project through a crowd-funding exercise called “Sponsor a Hectare”. The aim of the “Sponsor a Hectare” component of our fundraising strategy is to raise thirty million Rands by sponsoring every hectare on the island. This enables individual supporters to have their name (or that of their organization) listed on the MFM Project website’s Honour Roll and receive a Certificate of Appreciation. Sponsors are listed online in seven categories or “clubs”, each named after a seabird taxon that breeds on Marion Island. These range from one hectare (named “Storm Petrel”, with the largest membership) to the prestigious 100-hectare club, named after Marion’s largest breeding seabird, the iconic Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans.
Laurie Smaglick Johnson raised funding to sponsor 124 hectares by appealing to her friends and family
This month’s update of the Honour Roll shows that 2569 sponsorships have been made, totalling 12 489 hectares which represent 41.6% of the “Sponsor a Hectare” target. Most of these sponsorships have come from individuals. A notable boost to the total sponsorship to date came from birders on the Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage. Sponsorships have also come from activities that include sporting events (by online crowd funding), bird fairs, onboard auctions, a month-long “Double your Donation Campaign”, marking special birthdays, and in memory of Marion Island team members from previous years who have sadly passed away. Especially pleasing is when a supporter of the Project acts as an ambassador, independently raising hectare sponsorships from her or his circle of friends, colleagues and relatives.
Some of the members of the Mouse-Free Marion Cycling Team celebrate with their medals after the 2025 Cape Town Cycle Tour – and raising 131 hectares via an online crowd-funding appeal
To reach our 30 000-ha target we need to continue to encourage the public to consider sponsoring a hectare (or more), or any other amount they wish. But for now, we wish to thank all the many people who have already dug deep into their pockets to help the cause to “rewild” an island overrun with alien mice. Together we can do it!
John Cooper. News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 23 September 2025
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Northern Giant Petrel chick on Marion Island, pastel pencils and pens on Pastelmat by Claire Osborne of Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for the MFM Project, after a photograph by Liezl Pretorius
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.
