SnakesGuam uses dead mice to fight snake invasion
Guam has declared war on brown tree snakes, believed to have been carried to Guam around the end of the Second World War. The snakes have become a serious problem, eradicating native bird populations on the island.
Identification characteristics of the brown tree snake // Source: usgs.gov
Guam has declared war on brown tree snakes, believed to have been carried to Guam around the end of the Second World War. The snakes have become a serious problem, eradicating native bird populations on the island.
Yahoo News reports that, even worse, is the fact that the snakes have no natural predators living on the island. Wildlife officials are now worried that the snakes could one day reach other islands in the pacific.
“Guam is a very unique situation,” William Pitt, a wildlife biologist at the U.S. Agriculture Department’s National Wildlife Research Center in Hawaii, said. “There is no other place in the world that has a snake issue like Guam.”
In an effort to cut the population of the snakes instead of wiping them out, dead newborn mice stuffed with pain killers will be dropped by helicopter over areas where the snake population is heavily concentrated. The pain killers are toxic for snakes “and not a lot of other animals,” Pitt said.
About 2,000 mice will be dropped. The mice have a strand of ribbon between pieces of cardboard attached to them, so the mice can get caught in the trees instead of hitting the ground after they are released from the plane.
A primary target for the project is Andersen Air Force Base, which has a lot of vegetation. The project can kill snakes that end up as stowaways aboard departing aircraft.
