Toxic mice airdrop aims to wipe out Guam’s venomous snakes

[esn]

NBC World News, 22nd February 2013

Toxic mice airdrop aims to wipe out Guam’s venomous snakes

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam -- Dead mice laced with painkillers are about to rain down on Guam's jungle canopy. They are scientists' prescription for a headache that has caused the tiny U.S. territory misery for more than 60 years: the brown tree snake.


Most of Guam's native bird species are extinct because of the snake, which reached the island's thick jungles by hitching rides from the South Pacific on U.S. military ships shortly after World War II.


There may be 2 million of the reptiles on Guam now, decimating wildlife, biting residents and even knocking out electricity by slithering onto power lines.


More than 3,000 miles away, environmental officials in Hawaii have long feared a similar invasion — which in their case likely would be a "snakes on a plane" scenario.
That would cost the state many vulnerable species and billions of dollars, but the risk will fall if Guam's airdrop strategy succeeds.


"We are taking this to a new phase," said Daniel Vice, assistant state director of U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific Islands. "There really is no other place in the world with a snake problem like Guam."


Brown tree snakes are generally a few feet long but can grow to be more than 10 feet in length.

Continued: Toxic mice airdrop aims to wipe out Guam's venomous snakes - World News


I'm surprised they're not giving them parachutes.

 

[mr cyclone]

Locals should be using them as food or capturing them as a food source

 

[esn]

Locals should be using them as food or capturing them as a food source

It's interesting that they would go so far. Certainly there are other species that would eat prekilled rodents. There is no way this will not effect the ecosystem even more. There will be an effect - other animals will feed on the snakes dead bodies, other animals will get their hands on the mice. I see those birds they are trying to "save" also falling prey to the drugged mice.

Personally, I think this is too much meddling with not enough consideration.

 

[asfouts]

This sounds a little more thought out than the mongoose introduction in Hawaii.

Since these snakes seem to be the top predators in the Guam food chain I don't think that the toxic mice will have a substantial impact on the environment or other species. A few bugs may get their hands on the dead mice, but they recover quickly as a population. I think its a start.

Mr cyclone: That actually isn't a bad idea, or if they aren't edible just kill them and make shoes.

 

[esn]

There is a show based around this guy going all over the world and figuring out how to trap and cook invasive species. He then teaches the locals in hopes of controlling the population through hunting as well as providing a new food source. I forgot the name of it. Interesting idea. Dropping dead mice to make even more dead animals seems like needless waste to me. I prefer the utilitarian view of at least figuring out how to turn it into a resource.