Shaun Schneier at the Treble Cone ski area, South Island, New Zealand in September 2025, photograph by Sharon Anderson
In 2021 Shaun Schneier made what was then one of the largest donations by an individual to the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project by sponsoring 145 hectares. This amount placed Shaun firmly into the top 100-ha+ “Wandering Albatross” category on the Project’s Honour Roll. Not resting on his laurels, he has continued to make annual contributions since then so that his hectare tally now stands at an impressive 279 hectares. This places him third among the 28 individuals and other entities that have sponsored 100 or more hectares to date – and the most generous South African.
MFM News asked Shaun, now retired but coming from a marine science and coastal management background, what had kept him motivated to near double his original hectare sponsorship by continuing to make contributions over a five-year period. Shaun replies succinctly, saying “The eradication phase of the Project has not commenced yet and the urgency for it remains as acute as ever”, continuing “I greatly look forward to the project commencing and having a positive impact on Marion Island’s seabirds. In 2020 I had the good fortune to participate in an expedition to South Georgia, the Falklands Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. The King Penguins on South Georgia made a huge impression on me as I am sure would the albatrosses on Marion Island were I to visit there.”
Shaun Schneier near Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand in September 2025, photograph by Sharon Anderson
There have now been 2729 hectare-sponsorships, most by individuals, of the MFM Project, bringing in over 13.8 million Rands. Everyone, large or small, is greatly valued by the Project Team and we thank them all. Repeat sponsors, such as Shaun, are especially valued. They are there for the long haul, as the team is, all of us looking forward to the day when Marion Island can commence to heal and rewild itself, in the absence of the introduced mice.
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 09 June 2026
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A Wandering Albatross broods its hatchling on Marion Island, artwork by Lea Finke of Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for World Albatross Day, 19 June 2020, with its theme “Eradicating Island Pests”, after a photograph 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.
