Goats that survived for over two centuries without fresh water in Bahia are removed from Abrolhos

Recently, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) completed an operation to remove a group of goats from Santa Bárbara Island, located in the Abrolhos archipelago, Bahia, Brazil. The initiative was concluded in March and involved collaboration from the State University of Southwest Bahia (Uesb) and Embrapa, which will study the remarkable ability of these animals to adapt to environments with limited water availability.

The goats had been living on the island for more than 200 years, without access to natural sources of fresh water. According to ICMBio, the removal was necessary due to the environmental impacts caused by the presence of these animals, considered exotic to that ecosystem. In addition to affecting vegetation and soil, they interfered with the reproductive cycle of seabirds that use the region as a breeding site.

It is believed that the first goats were brought to Abrolhos by navigators during the colonial period, as a means of ensuring food supply during long expeditions. The archipelago, famous for its biodiversity, was visited by Charles Darwin in 1832 during his historic voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

The removal of the animals was part of a management plan developed by ICMBio in 2023, which carried out three expeditions between January and March, removing a total of 27 goats. The operation was supported by the Navy, Embrapa, Uesb, and the Bahia Agricultural Defense Agency (Adab).

The prolonged presence of the goats had compromised the island’s ecological balance, particularly affecting seven species of seabirds that breed in the region. Among them, the red-billed tropicbird stands out, whose largest known colony is found in Abrolhos and is considered a threatened species.

The eradication of the goats is seen as an essential measure for the natural regeneration of native vegetation on Santa Bárbara Island and for the conservation of the seabirds that use the archipelago as an important refuge and breeding ground.

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