Above picture: Janice Wallace hiking the 65-km Overland Track over six days in Tasmania in November 2024; photograph by Michael Clifton
Janice, husband Paul, daughters Gemma and Chelsea, sons Andrew and Duncan and mother Beatrice Munroe have together sponsored a total of 65 hectares towards the Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project’s goal of eradicating the island’s introduced House Mice. Of this total, 40 ha have been sponsored in the name of Janice’s and Paul’s company Petrichor Holdings to mark their 40th wedding anniversary. MFM News reached out to Janice to ask what motivated her and her family to make such a generous combined donation.
Janice writes in return: “I am very much an amateur birdwatcher but have been fortunate to have visited many countries on nature-based trips over the past 30 years. I currently live in southern England but spend a part of the year in Australia where we have family. I saw my first albatross on a pelagic day trip out of Sydney about ten years ago when a Wandering Albatross came very close to us. I was in awe of the size and beauty of that bird. I then had an opportunity to visit the sub-Antarctic islands off New Zealand on a birdwatching trip in 2017. We were surrounded by magnificent albatrosses on that journey, but we were also incredibly lucky to be able to go ashore on Campbell and Enderby Islands and see their Southern Royal Albatrosses breeding in predator-free conditions following successful eradication efforts.”
Southern Royal Albatross on a sub-Antarctic island with the megaherb Ross Lily Bulbinella rossii in front; photograph by Keith Springer
She continues: “I probably became aware of the Mouse Free Marion Project through BirdLife South Africa, for which I have a huge admiration. Having seen albatrosses on pest-free islands, I have found it impossibly sad that Marion is not also free of introduced predators, particularly given its importance for the Wandering Albatross with the island supporting a quarter of the world’s breeding population. It has become a cause I really want to support in the hope that the eradication project can be successfully completed in the not-too-distant future.”
Janice’s sentiments are echoed by the whole MFM Project Team, and we thank her and her family for their most generous support.
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 11 December 2024
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A view of House Mouse-free Prince Edward Island, Island on the horizon, 21 km away from Marion Island. Oil painting by Elmarie Keys of Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for the Conservation Campaign for Marion Island Special Project. After a photograph by her daughter-in-law Danielle Keys
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.
