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Eric Talmadge / AP
A brown tree snake is held by U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife specialist Tony Salas outside his office on Andersen Air Force Base on Guam. There may be 2 million of the reptiles on the island.
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.
Defenseless birds
Most of Guam's native birds were defenseless against the nocturnal, tree-based predators, and within a few decades of the reptile's arrival, nearly all of them were wiped out.
The snakes can also climb power poles and wires, causing blackouts, or slither into homes and bite people, including babies.
They use venom on their prey, but it is not lethal to humans.
The infestation and the toll it has taken on native wildlife have tarnished Guam's image as a tourism haven, though the snakes are rarely seen outside their jungle habitat.
The solution to this headache, fittingly enough, is acetaminophen, the active ingredient in painkillers including Tylenol.
The strategy takes advantage of the snake's two big weaknesses. Unlike most snakes, brown tree snakes are happy to eat prey they didn't kill themselves, and they are highly vulnerable to acetaminophen, which is harmless to humans.
The upcoming mice drop is targeted to hit snakes near Guam's sprawling Andersen Air Force Base, which is surrounded by heavy foliage and if compromised would offer the snakes a potential ticket off the island. Using helicopters, the dead neonatal mice will be dropped by hand, one by one.
U.S. government scientists have been perfecting the mice-drop strategy for more than a decade with support from the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior.
Streamers
To keep the mice bait from dropping all the way to the ground, where it could be eaten by other animals or attract insects as they rot, researchers have developed a device with streamers designed to catch in the branches of the forest foliage, where the snakes live and feed.
Experts say the impact on other species will be minimal, particularly since the snakes have themselves wiped out the birds that might have been most at risk.
"One concern was that crows may eat mice with the toxicant," said William Pitt, of the U.S. National Wildlife Research Center's Hawaii Field Station. "However, there are no longer wild crows on Guam."
The mouse drop is set to start in April or May.
A 2010 study conducted by the National Wildlife Research Center found brown tree snakes would cause between $593 million and $2.14 billion in economic damage each year if they became established in Hawaii like they are on Guam.
Power outages would cause the most damage, followed by a projected decline in tourism. The cost of treating snake bites would account for a small share.
Native Hawaiian birds "literally don't know what to do when they see a snake coming," said Christy Martin, a spokeswoman for the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, a partnership of Hawaii government agencies and private organizations.
"Once we get snakes here, we're never going to be able to fix the situation," Martin said.
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Fifty years after Agent Orange corrected the canopy growth across South Vietnam, we have snake control for Guam via a small mouse that is laced with Tylenol. Right!
Its a thing to be feared if your government takes an interest in "helping" you...
I mean dropping mice all over your island laced with painkillers... hmmm =\
I'm sorry but in the back of my mind i'm wondering what politician wants a new beach front home...
If there're really that many snakes, then that means there's plenty of food for them. If there's plenty of fodder on the island to sustain such a snake population, what do they think will happen once they kill off all the snakes? And, now, they're going to air-drop a ton more mice onto the place? I imagine the next headline we read will be that the human population was wiped out by rodent-carried disease, because their population exploded due to a lack of snakes.
L.J. Rhodes - The island's ecology did just fine without the snakes before the US Military brought them there 50 years ago so it stands to reason it will do just fine if they are gone.
LJ, you did read that the mice were dead, not much of a chance for the population to explode.
How do we get rid of the snakes in Washington DC?
I think LJ was referring to the fact that snakes are predators of the rodents that already exist there, not that live mice are being dropped. Lack of predators=more rodents. But Skup is correct, the island did fine without the brown tree snakes, and will be fine without them. If not, we can drop cats on the island next. And then dogs. And then the sheep farmer from Pennsylvania.
jrl,
I'm talking about the mice that are already there. There's got to be plenty of food besides just birds on that island, and rodents are a staple of serpent diets the world over. So, it's the mice that're already there that they have to worry about. Especially since snakes aren't really known to go around eating dead things with no movement or heat for them to detect. However, what is likely to eat these mice is other mammals, be they cats, dogs, etc.
It's just a bad idea all the way around.
I'm with @BellaAngel on this one.. Or What top Brass wants a Home next to the Ocean front property? I have been there. The Shores are the only thing I ever liked there!
LJ
It is clear you are totally against this, but I think you should go back and read the article. It states that these snakes are happy to eat something they did not kill. "Using helicopters, the dead neonatal mice will be dropped by hand, one by one". It also says that there will be streamers attached to the them to help make sure the mice are caught in the trees where the snakes hunt. There are plenty of rodents which do not climb trees, preferring the ground. The snakes are killing the native birds; they are nocturnal and they hunt in the trees, which is why the drop is starting around Anderson Air Force Base. The base is heavily surrounded by trees which could offer the snakes a way off the island by slithering aboard one of the planes stationed there.
While I am skeptical about government assistance in many cases, this is one for Hawaii to watch.
As the snakes peered up toward the heavens, they all thought, this is too good to be true!
Can't we import some badass bird that would enjoy eating them ?
Do you suppose when the mice land, and their little parachutes fall over them, that they appear as little fur bearing burritos to the snakes?
When the sun goes down, the snakes will play.
Bring on the bald eagles! Maybe their eggs are too big for these snakes.
And your point is.... ?
Can we drop rat poison-laced crystal meth all over the United States?
Might control one of our more slimy, slithering problems.
Lived on Guam for 2 1/2 years (and that was 20 years ago). And after a while, I was noticing there were NO bird sounds.
These "brown snakes" even caused power outages when the would go up power poles and wind up shorting out transformers.
It is time someone done something about this problem.
What Guam needs is a Snake Whacking Day proclamation, like they had in The Simpsons
[Whacking Day anthem - to the tune of "O Christmas Tree"]
Choir: O Whacking Day, O Whacking Day/Our hallowed snake-skull cracking day/We'll break their backs/Gouge out their eyes/Their evil hearts we'll pulverize/O Whacking Day, O Whacking Day/May God bestow his grace on Thee.
I want to know what the tylenol does to the snakes and what it will do to the insects and other fauna that will eat the dead snakes.
Also the idea that the island will revert to it's pre-snake balance after the snakes are eliminated is unlikely since the fauna that were devastated by the snakes have been eliminated from the balance.
We could end up with really bad late night horror movies like "Night of The 12' Cockroach That Ate Guam".
LJ, There really are that many snakes in Guam. It is a really bad problem for them there and, as the article states the snakes have nearly wiped out native birds, they attack pets and even babies. I have had friends who lived there and it's not pleasant. On the other side, I lived in Hawaii for many years where we do not have snakes. However,in 1883 the mongoose was brought to the islands to attempt to control the rat population. Unfortunately mongoose feed during the day and rats at night so the mongoose do not feed on rats, instead they attacked native birds. Luckily it sounds as if there is solid research and science behind this attempt to control the snakes and it's not like they are opening the hatches and it will be raining mice.
A few years back, I read, they had eradicated this snake from the island. They took custody of the endangered species on the island, placed them safely away from the snakes, and killed all the snakes. Then, re-released the native biodiversity. They disappeared, again. Only this time, it was the domestic cat that was wiping out the endangered species!
The scientists said, "We didn't know cats would do that." Not too bright as cats are listed as the "most dangerous predator ever introduced by man." [Swedish Wildlife Study]
Both the European rat and the domestic cat were introduced to Hawaii long before the mongoose. According to, "Wildlife in America", Peter Mathissen, by the time the mongoose was taken to Hawaii, it was too late.
The domestic cat is listed as the top predator in the extinction spasm that began 400 years ago, when Europeans transported the domestic cat and European rat around the world. The rat takes second place and the mongoose, third.
Interesting, they kill snakes, but evidently, the domestic cat has such a huge lobby of animal-lovers who care more for their cats' recreation that the fate of mankind and Earth as the animals cats are pushing extinct are the creators and saviors of Earth's natural and wild ecosystems, all the reasons Earth supports and creates all life on the planet.
What kind of crazy "american" idea is that? Must be a left over from the bush's. What are they going to drop next? The GOP? To get them beaten on a daily base?
But real. You don't kill one problem by creating an even worst one. They should read about mice and rats abilities. But first of all. If you as the publisher of the news don't really know what the f you are writing about, don't write it. That Guam's tree snakes are venomous is a lie, that the publisher is a nut is the truth. Maybe he is GOP too and was dropped on his head.
Once the snakes are dealt with, I am sure they will attempt to re-introduce species that were once native to the island.
"reign of the pinkies"
For some reason, I'm reminded of an old WKRP in Cincinnati episode.
lol.. Having been to Guam and lived in the Cincinnati Metro for 15 years.... it reminded me of the same thing.
Ha! Yeah, that's right. There may be some unforeseen consequences here where they'll smack their heads afterwards and say "Doh! Why didn't we think of that?!?"
I just keep hearing "Ride of the Valkyries".
I think about the mongoose in Hawaii and how they introduced the animal to take care of a rat problem. Only thing is, they didn't do their research and it turned out that mongeese(?) are day creatures and rats are nocturnal. Thus, the inevitable: islands overrun with both rats and mongoose, or mongeese - whatever the plural is...
I didn't know they couldn't fly.
Ken
"I love the smell of tylenol in the morning..."
@Spaceman,
Les Nessman: "Oh, the horror!"
That wa a good show!
WKRP. who knew they couldn't fly? ( and, lets televise it)
LOL. I remember that
Why did they wait so long to do something about the problem?
Government efficiency???
They could solve two problems at once if they dropped the toxic rats from Washington instead of killing mice.
Denver Bill ; That would require testing, studying, decision, and arguing over death panels. Maybe fifty years from now it MIGHT happen. Too much blockage, obstructionism, and do nothing, in Vacation City D.C. Besides, that would mean unfunded spending which ain't going to happen.
This is just one more try in a string of failures.....
Probably the EPA or military efficiency. It is quite a good idea, whoever came up with it.
"OK, droppers - we just got cut off because of the sequester so we're going to go out over the water and you can pickle your dead mice..."
Committees.......... you forgot the committees............ and then there are the "Oversight committees"; and then the Over-Oversight committees......................
"acetaminophen, which is harmless to humans." SINCE WHEN? This is big news to me, and possibly the CDC and poison control centers worldwide.
You are not going to find children up in the trees eating neonatal mice.
So is water unless you consume massive quantitie, then it is fatal. Have you ever known anyone that was sickened or died using a recomended dosage?
Acetaminophen is toxic to humans (over 4 gms a day) and cause more overdoses and deaths then any other drug in the USA including narcotics.
Not that this will happen in Guam but too much Tylenol can cause sickness and death.
I wonder how much will end up in the water supply...
And how many native birds will be lost due to accidental parachute ingestion?
Are you really that nuts?
Sirlafalot, you gotta learn how to read before you write: the article states that there are NO birds on the island because the snakes have eaten all of them.
@Sully99
What are your sources for this claim? I don't think this is a true statement.
Jeff - it's right there on Wikipedia. Four different citations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetaminophen
Acetaminophen DOES cause liver damage, sometimes at doses close to "normal". The FDA may soon lower the max daily dose down from 4000 mg to 2600 mg. Overdose (deliberate or accidental) can lead to a slow, nasty death or expensive rescue treatment.
This plan will probably initially have some success in reducing the brown tree snake population. However, those snakes which will be killed are those that find dead mice to be acceptable food. This will selectively remove them from the breeding population. The survivors and their offspring will be the snakes which will not take the bait.
I also take exception with the statement, "...acetaminophen, which is harmless to humans." Acetaminophen is very toxic to humans. It is the leading cause of acute liver failure in the United States. (pdf link)
I suppose that a turkey dropped at sufficient height onto a brown tree snake would kill it. Cincinnati does not seem to have a snake problem so perhaps the WKRP turkey drop was successful in that sense. I would think that frozen turkeys would work better as they would be strictly ballistic.
If you are dumb enough to gobble down dead mice that fell from the sky, you probably have more things to worry about than acetaminophen poisoning.
People, dumb enough to gobble down dead mice, wouldn't be missed that much. Good Bye Tea Garbage. Then again, maybe this is a really good idea.
Okay you come up with a better plan. Too late.
Just Me
Just who in the world are you to call anybody garbage? Your comment wasn't even civilized. You probably aren't either.
ha, you said mouse droppings
Mouse droppings and the smell of Tylenol in the morning...Damn, I love this thread!
If there are no birds, why not introduce dioxin into the food chain. It makes the egg shells too thin and the snakes will not reproduce. Your never going to eliminate a population by killing adults, we are well versed on how to eradicate a species, you have to destroy habitat, breading grounds, or affect reproduction.
MMC(SS), The brown tree snake eggs have a leathery shell. I don't think DDT or dioxin will have the desired effect.
There are people and other mammals on the island. Are you really not thinking about the habitat that much?
Worrying about the toxicity of acetaminophen in humans connected to the mouse drop is just trying to stir up controversy. A neonatal mouse weighs about 1.5 grams. The lethal dose of acetaminophen for a normal child is in excess of 15 grams. That's more than 10 times the weight of the mouse! You can't stuff that much in a mouse!
I'm not worried about the toxicity of acetaminophen in this situation. I just think the characterization of acetaminophen as being harmless to humans is wrong. Taken at the recommended doses, it is reasonably safe.
I believe it is implied that the dosage being utilized is harmless to humans. No need to pick a part this statement for falsities or inaccuracies, as the article is very clear as to the method of delivery.
The weirdo that picks up a dead mouse off the jungle floor and eats it, deserves to die.
Reminds me of the sequence in"V" where the alien opens the garbage can and says.."Ah...MOUSEY!..." (slurp)
I lived on Guam from 1977-1980. Guam is a case study for invasive species. In addition to the snakes, the Japanese brought over a type of snail as a food source. These things will cross a road in a swarm that you can see the tracks cars have cut thought them.
And then there is a type of toad. Suckers get the size of a bull-frog! Same thing. They swarm and cover a road. The pop-pop-pop you get as you drive over them is unsettling.
Been too many years for me to remember the species names but we were told that it was the result of no natural predators.
This is one of the rare instances when gov't is actually doing something before it becomes a major problem. Congrats Hawaii and I wish you total success.
It's Guam....
It IS a MAJOR problem. That's why the attempt to control the snakes (but way too late).
If Guam wasn't such a strategic location, I'd be all for nuking the island to cleanse it.
After 1,000 years (or maybe a million), it would be a paradise once again...
You don't understand how nuclear weapons work, do you?
Hawaii should be vilified rather than congratulated for its record on invasive species. Others commenting here have mentioned the rat/mongoose (plural: mongooses) disconnect. Here are a couple more:
--None other than the late, great Herb Kane alerted the Big Island to the brand new infestation of coqui tree frogs in a letter to the editor of a local paper about 15 years ago. He was hearing them around his south Kona home and had learned that they were coming to plant nurseries on the island from Puerto Rico in shipments of ornamental plants. The "experts" on the island determined that they could be controlled with citric acid.... Did the shipments from Puerto Rico stop? No! (The government decried the lack of funds for enough inspectors to handle the problem.) Today, the coqui tree frog is present on most parts of the island.
--In 1906, a ranch on the dry west side of the Big Island was experimenting with grasses for pasturage. They noticed that the cattle didn't like densely clumped fountain grass, native to northern Africa, so ranch hands were tasked with digging it up and "disposing" of it on bare (barren) lava flows. Guess what? It is fire-adapted and thrives in drought conditions and spread like wildfire. It was ignored back then; it is still ignored today by landowners and the government; and they have given up on the 200,000+ acres of land that it covers. (The ignorance is widespread: Hawaii's "experts" on invasive species think fountain grass was introduced as an ornamental to the island 99 years ago.)
There is no political will in Hawaii--at all levels of government--to "do the right thing" when it comes to invasive species. The only questions on bureaucrats' minds there is "What's in it for me?" and "Who's gonna pay for it?"
How can we use this strategy to get rid of Republicans? Just askin'
Freebies dropped from planes will most likely attract liberals.
And would make T-party Retards run around in circles, pull on their hair, and scream that the sky is falling! LMAO...
The sky is falling reminds me of our liberal neighbors to the north. Do you remember the acid rain hysteria in Canada? They were raising hell about all the acidic clouds coming from the US. The funny thing about it was Canada was and still is the leading supplier of sour crude to the US, unlike the sweet crude from the Middle East. The greedy Canadians were exporting oil and importing acid rain. LOL
Tylenol-laced hookers outside the conventions?
Yeah, Canadians... it's all their fault!
Maybe actually going out and seeking a job, instead posting silly conspiracies and breathing all the stale air in your mom's basement would be a littel better for you.
Adventurers. Place a bounty on the snakes and they will disappear. Two million snakes at $10 each and not only would the snakes disappear but it would create a whole industry of food services and lodging and of course snake bite treatment.
the great python hunt (last week) in the Florida everglades didn't get too many...
Then everyone would complain about their tax dollars being spent on silly projects.
Hunting is harder than it looks like on TV - that's why we call it 'hunting' instead of 'catching'. A bounty is still a good idea, though, especially for Florida and the invasive snakes there, because it's a more complex situation than the brown snake in Guam so dropping acetaminophen laced baby mice would definitely not work in Florida for many reasons.
Most readers are curious as to the native country of these snakes. Lazy journalism.
The article says they came from the south pacific. That seems clear enough , I suppose that they inhabit more then one country Job Seeker.
Australia and many islands north of Australia
.... good solution since these snakes are such a "headache" for the residents.
hehe
So help me understand something here. They are going to drop 2 million mice one at a time? How many man-hours does that job amount to?
I'm sure they have the time, Feisty. Anderson AFB has no lack of willing recruits.
Some people thrive on mindless chores. Me, for example....I'd love to get in a helicopter and drop teeny mice all...day....long.
NSFBB, I was wondering the same thing also.
How are they going to do this with any economy of scale? How can they gauge how many mice to drop, and when, to bait all those millions of snakes? I can't believe that those mice, once dead, have a long "shelf life" of appeal even for a scavenging snake, especially in that sort of heat.
The cost to breed, euthanize, load with Tylenol, attach a parachute to, and drop from a helicopter, by hand, has to be enormous.
Somehow I doubt they are planning on just one mouse per snake. They are going to have to drop a lot more than that.
I assume it's an experiment to see if they can wipe them out or seriously reduce the population around the air base, which is how they could get to Hawaii. If it works maybe they'll start selling acetaminophen-laced mice in Home Depot for homeowners. Yeah, there're lots of ways for this to go wrong, but the situation on Guam is already wrong.
well - they COULD just stick ground up tylenol into hamburger and the homeowners could put the bait in locations known to be frequented by snakes. maybe a partially shielded box (to keep out the other animals) and a cage with small openings with a few mic inside. The mice are the primary bait and the burger is secondary. Snake has a tiny rotten whopper and slithers off to die...
It takes less than 100mg of acetominophen to kill a snake. That is less than half the active ingredient in one tylenol tablet without the carrier. It can be injected into the mouse as a liquid. Its about 3 drops.
The forest canopy is the best choice to place the bait mice as it offers the least chance to poison non-target animals and the best chance to deliver a dose to the brown tree snake.One single dose should suffice.
.
They should wait for St. Patrick's day to do this. (March 17th)
lol!
I don't think the article mentioned what the natural predator of these snakes might be...introducing the natural predator might've kept things in check.
Then you may have the same problems with the predators......
News 10 years from now:
"Guam overridden with millions of mice incapable of feeling pain"
The mice will be dead when dropped...maybe zombie mice will take over Guam
People will never learn NOT to second guess Mother Nature. She has time on her side.
There they go again trying to control what nature set in motion, this is getting out of control. Environmentalist think they know everything there is to know about nature and man should take over, what fools they are!
Some environmentalists seem to think that man does not deserve a place on Earth at all. Me? If anyone cares, I say we minimize our footprint and keep going.
Everytime I hear someone say that it makes me want to invite them to go first, DarnThatDream.
"Me? If anyone cares, I say we minimize our footprint and keep going."
I agree, DarnThatDream. I've begun doing that in my own life. I grow as much of my own food as possible, practice the hypermiling techniques that are safe, conserve energy at home. Any purchases I make that can be 'double duty' purchases are to the good ( made in USA first, fair trade international second, and yard sale/second hand whenever it will do the job just as well. Stuff from China or other places that treat their workers like s#*t, only if it is a bare necessity I can't get anywhere else. And I encourage people to check out Cody Lungren's website--he is the minimalist on 'Dual Survival'. Most of us aren't able to do it to the extent he does, but we can certainly get some good ideas from him.
Either way, dead rotting mice or dead rotting snakes, I don't believe I'll go to Guam for awhile.
will make it easier to find them - just follow the smell...
Here's a novel idea. In Oklahoma, they have annual rattle snake round up festivals. They have a contest who can bring in the most rattlers. Then they have a huge rattle snake fry. I understand snake meat is very good. Get rid of the deadly snakes, have fun doing it and no poisons.
I worry about people who think it is fun to kill something....
Interesting that you mention the a Rattlesnake roundup as I was just getting ready to post about unintentional consequences of interfering in nature, even if it is to correct previous interference.
One of those consequences is, now follow me here, that the rattlesnakes that survive the roundup are the ones that don't rattle when they feel threatened. They are the ones who prefer to lie very still and silent and wait for the danger to pass. So now when the snake hunters go out into areas that have been hunted regularly for generations they aren't finding any snakes, at least at first glance. The snakes are there, they are just quiet; making it much easier for someone who is inattentive to step on one.
See how that works? Nature will have her own way, with or without us.
The really big difference between the brown snake in Guam and the rattlesnake in Oklahoma is that rattlesnake is indigenous to Oklahoma, so it is in it's own environment. I don't know if the brown snake in Guam would taste as good as rattlesnake, but it might be worth a try.
To homesick yank: My hubby and I hunt, but only for what we can eat, and that is legal to hunt. It is not the kill that we enjoy, but rather we enjoy bringing home meat to eat that is not tainted with growth hormones or antibiotics, that is very lean and good for us, and that the animal enjoyed it's life before the predator took it instead of the animal that lived a miserable life in a crowded factory farm before the proxy predator took it. And our attitude towards the animals we hunt is adopted from the Native American attitude "Forgive me, for I must feed my family". We also enjoy being out in nature, the wilderness.
For fun and practice, we shoot clay targets at a skeet range.
Have a splitting headache. Should I take 1 or 2 mice ?
Better to take a brown tree snake. Kill two birds -- yeah, I know Guam doesn't have any -- with one stone.