They all got exterminated.
[a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090612/lf_nm_life/us_alaska_rat"]http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090612/lf_nm_life/us_alaska_rat[/a]
[span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1244846252_0"]Alaska's Rat Island[/span] is finally rat-free, 229 years after a Japanese shipwreck spilled rampaging rodents onto the remote [span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1244846252_1"]Aleutian island[/span], decimating the local bird population. After dropping poison onto the island from helicopter-hoisted buckets for a week and a half last autumn, there are no signs of living rats and some birds have returned, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.[/p] Rats have ruled the island since 1780, when they jumped off a sinking Japanese ship and terrorized all but the largest birds on the island. The incident introduced the non-native Norway rat -- also known as the brown rat -- to Alaska.[/p] [img style="width: 351px; height: 466px;" src="http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/images/rat_island_field_camp_300dpi.jpg[/img] [img style="width: 462px; height: 346px;" src="http://alaskamaritime.fws.gov/images/rat_lone_biologist_on_rat_island_300dpi.jpg[/img]
[/p] (http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/089e7Ffdeo4XD/610x.jpg)
Will it change its name?
No idea, blame the Russians for naming it.
The Aleut name is Hawadax. I like that better.
The Aleutians to me have always been this mysterious place. I'd like to figure out how to trek the islands since its still in many respects 'kinda Russian' still.
[img style="width: 746px; height: 501px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/UnalaskaAlaska.jpg"]
Nice looking place!