The Mongoose That Couldn't Catch a Rat

In 1883, sugar planters on Maui imported 72 mongooses from Jamaica to control the rat population that was devastating their crops. On paper it made sense. Mongooses are fast, aggressive predators. The critical oversight was that rats are nocturnal and mongooses hunt during the day. They never crossed paths. Instead, the mongoose population exploded and turned its appetite toward Hawaii's native ground-nesting birds and sea turtle eggs. Today the state spends millions annually attempting to control the mongoose population, a costly reminder that introducing a new predator to an isolated ecosystem rarely goes as planned.

Source: Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources