In 1979, Japan released 30 mongooses onto Amami Oshima to kill venomous snakes, and it took 45 years to fix what happened next

Japan's ambitious plan to control venomous snakes on Amami Ōshima with Indian mongooses in 1979 backfired spectacularly. The introduced predators, active during the day, failed to hunt nocturnal snakes but decimated native wildlife, including the endangered Amami rabbit. After nearly five decades and a massive eradication effort, Japan has finally declared the island mongoose-free, a rare conservation triumph.