The woman who has lived 

alone on one of the world's 

most remote islands 

for 40 years

Citizen scientist: Zoe Lucas, 67, has been living on Sable Island,
 a smile-shaped sandbar measuring around 26 miles long

• Zoe Lucas, 67, has spent 40 years 
• living on Sable Island off the coast of Canada
• The citizen scientist first visited the spot as a 
• 21-year-old in 1971
• She gets supplies flown in weekly and spends her
•  time studying the ecology  

A woman living on a remote island off the coast of Canada
devoid of human life could certainly give Robinson Crusoe a
run for his money.

Zoe Lucas, 67, has spent more than 40 years living on
Sable Island, a large smile-shaped sandbar measuring
around 26 miles long.

The only other residents on the patch of land are around
400 horses, 300,000 grey seals and 350 species of bird.

 Lucas, who is revered for her work as a naturalist, revealed
 that she has adapted to island life and never gets lonely. 

She says her essential survival tools include a jotter pad,
so she can take notes, and binoculars to observe the wildlife
on the sandy shores. 

Sometimes there are some rather odd things she spots
through her lenses, however, with a fake leg being one of
the more bizarre things that have surfaced on shore.

The citizen scientist from Halifax first visited Sable Island
 as a 21-year-old in 1971 while studying goldsmithing.

'I squawked and squawked, I wanted to come so bad.
 I originally came out here for the horses,' Lucas explains. 

Sable Island, which is only accessible by boat or charter plane,
 is home to hundreds of wild horses, which are
completely unmanaged.

It's believed the animals arrived on the island in the early
18th century to help with agricultural work when a settlement
was attempted and later they were recruited to help
 man a lifesaving station.

Sable Island - which is shrouded in fog for around 125
days of the year - is a notorious shipping hazard. 

Sable Island is a narrow, crescent-shaped sandbar measuring
26 miles long and 0.93 miles across at its widest point. It is
considered to be part of the district of Halifax, although the urban
 area is located some 190 miles away on the Nova Scotian mainland

Wild landscape: The only other residents on the patch of land
 are around 400 horses, 300,000 grey seals and 350 species of bird

It is said to be home to more than 300 shipwrecks, earning
it the nickname 'graveyard of the Atlantic'. One of the more
recent accidents occurred in 1981.

But Lucas says the hostile environment didn't deter her and
she swiftly returned to Sable Island and made it her home.

She set up camp on one end of the island, where former
 buildings from the abandoned lifesaving station once stood.
Supplies are flown in on a weekly basis to enable her survival. 

Today Lucas lives in a wooden-clad house nestled in a collection
 of sand dunes. The simple abode was constructed when
National Parks Canada stepped in.

Sable Island became a National Park Reserve on June 20, 2013,
 thanks to negotiations by Canada's former Environment Minister,
 Jim Prentice, who sadly died in a plane crash.

Throughout the year a team of staff rotate shifts on the island,
offering Lucas a little bit of company.

Today Lucas lives in a wooden-clad house nestled in a collection
of sand dunes. The simple abode was constructed when
National Parks Canada stepped in

There is a vast grey seal population on Sable Island and the
 waters are teeming with them  

Talking with parks staff, it is clear that Lucas is highly respected.

Greg Stroud, a visitor experience manager said: 'Zoe's an
 amazing woman and has dedicated her life to Sable Island.
She goes back to her base in Halifax occasionally
 but this is her real home.

'She's worked closely with the National Parks so we
can collaborate on projects.'

Stroud highlighted that island life isn't too physically taxing,
as Sable stays relatively mild all year around with an average
 annual temperature range of 18.6 degrees Celsius.

He continued: 'Zoe is a very private person but it's not
surprising when you spend so much time out here alone.'

During a visit to Sable Island with the expedition company
 Adventure Canada, Lucas talked about some of the science
 she carries out. Much of her work has been funded by
 donors and by the non-profit organisation, Friends of 
Sable Island Society.

Over the years Lucas has collected the skulls of horses, so that
scientists can better understand how they've managed to adapt
to the stark landscape. She also collects
 rubbish to help track the ocean's pollution levels

Over the years Lucas has collected the skulls of horses,
so that scientists can better understand how they've managed
 to adapt to the stark landscape

Over the years Lucas has collected the skulls of horses, so
 that scientists can better understand how they've managed to
adapt to the stark landscape.

She also helps man a weather station and does a daily
rubbish collection to help track the ocean's pollution levels.

The day we visited, she hauled out a giant bag of plastic ribbons.
She revealed that popped balloon carcasses commonly wash up.

Other quirky pieces of debris that have surfaced include a
garbage bag of drugs, a refrigerator and a crateful of
fresh peppers from a shipping container.

Though Sable Island has a slightly spooky guise, with tales
of shipwrecks and ghost stories making the rounds, for Lucas
this solitary spit of sand is pure paradise, minus the palm trees.  

'She'll stay on Sable as long as she can,' Stroud mused.