The local council on Terschelling has started an investigation into the appearance of two dead rats on the island following a rat-free period of over 50 years.

Other islanders have reported seeing live rats, alderman Bert Wassink told Nu.nl, prompting an investigation by an ecologist to gauge the size of the infestation. Depending on the results forestry commission Staatsbosbeheer will be asked about measures that can be taken, he said.

“We don’t have moles or squirrels and we don’t have rats, and in the case of rats we would like to keep it that way. Rats are predators and eat the eggs of small birds and they multiply very quickly. We want to prevent a plague,” Wassink said.

According to Wassink, the most likely cause of the renewed presence of the rats is that some of them jumped ship. “Ferries and freighters come to Terschelling every day and they could easily have brought rats,” he said.

When rats appeared on the island half a century ago, stoats were used to get rid of them. “It worked, but then we had to catch the stoats,” Wessink said.

The stoat method will probably not be repeated in case of an infestation, the alderman said. “It has all sorts of disadvantages, so we’d best to leave this up to the experts.”

All the other Wadden Sea islands do have resident rats, Nu.nl said.