Guam Snakes Being Fought With Poisoned Mice Parachuted In From Helicopters
Yes, you read that right. Sometimes the best solution are the simplest one. So why not airdroppoisonedmice to kill these pesty snakes? I bet you would love to see that.
Brown tree snakes in Guam have wildlife officials there seeing red. That's why the officials are air-dropping poisoned mice as a lethal treat for the mildly venomous serpents, an invasive species that has devastated native animal populations on the Pacific island, the BBC reported.
"The brown tree snake has had a devastating impact," Cheryl Calustro of Guam's Department of Agriculture, told the network. "Ten out of 12 native forest bird species disappeared in 30 years. The birds here evolved without predators. They were quite naive. And when the snake arrived on Guam it ate eggs, juveniles, adults. Whole generations disappeared."
And birds aren't the snakes' only victims. According to a USGS report , the snakes have caused "the extirpation of most of the native forest vertebrate species; thousands of power outages affecting private, commercial, and military activities" along with "considerable emotional trauma to residents and visitors alike."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/09/guam-snakes-poison-mice-parachute_n_1503615.html
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They should have called St Patty.
Hey Peter,
That's a good idea!
Might take out more than the snakes?
I heard about this problem many years ago... I hope the poison mice work... Otherwise if the snakes end up killing all of their prey... then they will eventually go extinct themselves... sort of the Easter Island effect... after they are gone, then maybe we can reintroduce the native species.
They have got to hope that the mice live long enough to be eaten. But how odd would it be, to be standing there as thousands of little miceparachutedown? Imagine what the mice were thinking!!