Guam has a problem; snakes. Actually it has had a problem with snakes for decades, but now the US government has decided to take action.
The non native species, which hitched a ride somewhere in the past and has made Guam its home, has decimated bird populations and other animal species in the island.
It also has grown in numbers so large that it has become a nuisance even to the population, although its bite is not fatal. They can be found everywhere, in people's home, in the jungle, up trees and along electrical lines. For this reason, they are often the cause of power outages.
But the real problem the US Government is trying to avoid, is the possible transfer of any of the species' specimens to the islands of Hawai'i, where the bird population, unused to snakes, would be completely at the mercy of the snake.
The snake in essence could devastate the hawaiian islands and curb tourism, if it proceeds to multiply and invade as effectively as it has done in Guam.
The solution: dead mice laced with acetaminophen. The mice, which pose little threat to the population and even less to the birds, since there are none left, are deadly to the snakes who are extremely sensitive to the painkiller. The only birds who could see the mice as food are crows. But there are no crows left in Guam because of the snake, which dwells mostly in trees.
There are upwards of 2 million of the snakes in Guam. If anything similar happens to Hawai'i, the cost of the damage could be in the billions.
The snake in fact could easily hitch a ride on one of the American base's numerous plane flights that shuttle between Guam and Hawai'i, and in so doing repeating the process that brought the wily snake to Guam from other locales in the Sourth Pacific after world war II.
The mice 'drop' will occur in April and May. The local authorities hope that the drop, which is done nearer the base, will avoid a natural catastrophe in Hawai'i.
Source: Daily Mail 2.22.13
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