Lord Howe Island is a unique habitat found in the middle of the Tasman Sea and is part of New South Wales, Australia. Lord Howe Island’s extinction history runs parallel to so many other unique islands around the world. It has been a World Heritage Site for over 36 years and has many unique species that can only be found on Lord Howe Island. It had 113 unique plants, approximately 800 insect species, not to mention the many bird species that have gone extinct there. As people came to Lord Howe Island on the routes from Australia to Norfolk Island, then up to the Solomon Islands, the people used the island to hunt and gather supplies. The nature, habits, and exact extinction date of the Lord Howe parakeet are unclear. Lord Howe Island was first discovered in 1788 by Captain Thomas Gilbert. The island’s parakeet was not hunted for food like the swamphen or pigeon which went extinct quickly after human settlement. As people moved onto Lord Howe Island, they began clearing sections of forest to plant crops and cultivate the land. The parakeet began raiding these cultivated areas. This led to a campaign to hunt and poison the raiding parakeets. The last Lord Howe parakeet was observed in 1868. Although Jurassic Park is fiction, scientists are working on several de-extinction projects. In fact, in 2003 scientists did bring back the extinct Pyrenean ibex, a type of wild goat, for 7 minutes before it died, showing de-extinction is possible. The Lord Howe parakeet might be a candidate. Scientists would use the DNA from the two preserved specimens housed in the Natural History Museum in London. Much has been done in Lord Howe to promote conservation and fight the invaders. Groups like the Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project, are seeking to find ways to eliminate rats and mice from the island. Here is a quote from the Lord Howe Rodent Eradication Project about the impact of rodents on the island and what they are working on to help the Lord Howe ecosystem. “The presence of exotic rodents on islands is one of the greatest causes of species extinction in the world. Rats have already been implicated in the extinction of five endemic bird species, at least 13 species of endemic invertebrates, and two plant species on LHI. Rodents are also a recognised threat to at least 13 other bird species, 2 reptiles, 51 plant species, 12 vegetation communities, and 7 species of threatened invertebrates on the Island. Seven of these species are listed as “Critically Endangered” under NSW and Commonwealth legislation. These programs complement significant achievements to date including the eradication of cats and pigs in the 1980’s, feral goats in 1999, and Myrtle Rust in 2018, a world-first. The Protecting Paradise Program was the Gold winner of the 2018 Banksia Sustainability Awards and the 2018 NSW Green Globe Awards in the Natural Environment and Regional Sustainability categories. After more than 15 years of detailed research and planning, final implementation of the Rodent Eradication Project (REP) is almost complete.” Native birds were captured while rat poison was spread throughout the habitat. Once the rats had been poisoned, the captured birds were released back into the wild. These efforts worked well. Dogs were used to eliminate any remaining rats from the island. The last reported rat on Lord Howe Island was in August of 2022. If the Lord Howe parakeet was reintroduced to Lord Howe Island, could it again thrive there? Maybe. Consider this. The Lord Howe woodhen population had been down to 15 individuals in 1980, but today there are over 800 birds.