In 1789, Fletcher Christian, the master’s mate of the Royal Navy’s HMS Bounty, led a mutiny against the ship’s captain, Lieutenant William Bligh. 143 years later, the story of the mutiny was popularized through the novel Mutiny on the Bounty. It was made into a film in 1935 starring Clark Gable. In 1962, the film was remade, this time starring Marlon Brando as Fletcher Christian, and received 7 Oscar nominations. Marlon Brando was already on his way to becoming one of the brightest stars in Hollywood at this time, but the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty had a profound impact on him.

Filmed on location in Tahiti, Brando fell in love with the islands and the people there. After filming wrapped, Brando hired a local to take him on a tour of the nearby Tetiꞌaroa atoll. Upon seeing the islands, Brando said that it was “more gorgeous than anything I had anticipated,” and bought them. In the 1970’s, completion on a small village Brando had built completed on Tetiꞌaroa. Around this same time, Europeans accidentally introduced black rats to the island. Today the rats have imposed their own mutiny on the island.

It is estimated that there could be 28,000-65,000 rats swarming the 2 square mile island. Not only are the rats affecting tourism on the island, but they are also destroying the island’s native plants and animals. After seeing the devastating effects of invasive species on island environments, Professors Don Croll and Bernie Tershy from the University of California, Santa Cruz, began Island Conservation.

In August of 2021, Island Conservation will be journeying to Tetiꞌaroa with new technology to combat the rat infestation. The new technology, drones, was proven to work a few years earlier to protect the endangered shallow-tailed gull that was being threatened by rats in the Galapagos Islands. A drone was launched from a boat and flown along a predetermined course to drop rodenticide on the island of Seymour Norte. The poison used was designed to be safe to all other species other than rats and was delivered with extreme precision.

Within 2 years of using the drones on Seymour Norte, the island has been declared 100% rat free. Island Conservation has continued to use this drone method to rid invasive species from other islands while protecting native wildlife. Previously, the organization had used helicopters and small airplanes to apply rat poisons. But these methods were not only inaccurate but extremely expensive. “We’ve been watching drone technology for a number of years,” said David Will, innovation program manager at Island Conservation, “with the idea that it can dramatically reduce cost and also democratize island restoration by allowing local experts to be able to fly them using precision automating processes.”

The drones carrying out the rat mutiny will be provided by Envico Technologies from New Zealand. The commercial sized hybrid drones use gasoline that allows the drones to be airborne for upwards of an hour at a time. The drones are also able to support a payload of nearly 100lbs, making them ideal for rapid, thorough rodenticide application. Island Conservation has trained a team of 5-6 people to operate the drones over a two week mission in Tetiꞌaroa. After the initial application, the team will move on to another island nearby. Then a second application will be applied to both islands. Because the teams are using drones, they can easily transport the needed equipment without going over budget. With drones, Marlon Brando’s beloved island should be returned to the glory it was when he first laid eyes on it.

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