The Environment Ministry has declared the eradication of the mongoose, an invasive alien species that causes serious damage to local ecosystems, from the island of Amami-Oshima in Kagoshima Prefecture.
The Sept. 3 declaration has been hailed as a “miracle” by ministry officials as this was the first case in the world in which long-settled nonnative mongooses have been eradicated in such an area as large as Amami-Oshima.
Meanwhile, on the main island of Okinawa, another place in Japan to which mongooses had been brought, there is no prospect of eradicating the animal, although control measures in the northern part of the island are showing signs of progress.
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