Editing Brown rat (section)

====New Zealand====
First arriving before 1800 (perhaps on [[James Cook|James Cook's]] vessels),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Atkinson |first1=I.A.E.
|year=1973 |title=Spread of the Ship Rat (''Rattus r. rattus'' L.) in New Zealand |journal=[[Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand]] |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=457–472 |doi=10.1080/03036758.1973.10421869|bibcode=1973JRSNZ...3..457A
|doi-access=free}}</ref> brown rats pose a serious threat to many of [[New Zealand animals|New Zealand's native wildlife]]. Rat eradication programmes within New Zealand have led to rat-free zones on offshore islands and even on fenced [[Ecological island|"ecological islands"]] on the mainland. Before an eradication effort was launched in 2001, the sub-Antarctic [[Campbell Island, New Zealand|Campbell Island]] had the highest population density of brown rats in the world.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2938612.stm |title=NZ routs island rats |date=2003 |work=BBC News |access-date=2 August 2007}}</ref>