Feds Hope Hunts Will Stop Brown Tree Snakes from Invading the U.S.

[WckedMidas]

Feds Hope Hunts Will Stop Brown Tree Snakes from Invading the U.S. - 0
by John Burgman


The federal government is taking extreme measures to make sure that an invasive snake species that's infamous for hurting bird populations doesn't make its way onto U.S. soil, according to news sources.

The brown tree snake is native to Australia. However, as a result of military cargo ships and airplanes traveling frequently from country to country starting after World War II, significant populations of the meter-long serpents popped up in Guam. Over the years, the snake has killed off nine bird species there.

Hawaii, which is roughly 3,000 miles away from Guam, has a similar climate. As a result, U.S. wildlife biologists fear that the invasive snakes could easily hitch rides to Hawaii and be equally as destructive to the fauna.

To lessen the chances of that happening, Congress recently signed on for a program that will devote about $3 million to hunting and killing the snakes. The program entails 58 workers using thousands of snake traps around Guam, as well as poisons and comprehensive searches of cargo ships planning to leave the country's ports, all in hopes of curbing the booming population and finding stowaway snakes. Dogs will also be used in the snake hunts.

The program will only last nine months, as various federal departments are struggling with fiscal funds for the coming year and preparing for possible budget cuts.

The Brown tree snake, which is primarily nocturnal, has been known to be aggressive toward humans. However, its' neurotoxin venom is usually not powerful enough to harm healthy adults.

Photo by: US Fish And Wildlife Service

 

[Lepisosteus platyrhincus]

Wow an attractive invader. Thats rare

 

[black_sun]

I'd keep one of those if I found it...

 

[Noto]

They should have done this years ago. Those snakes have caused a lot of damage, ecological and financial, on Guam. They have been implicated in the deaths of children too.

 

[snakeguy101]

They should have done this years ago. Those snakes have caused a lot of damage, ecological and financial, on Guam. They have been implicated in the deaths of children too.

yes but the guy that wrote that paper for the USGS was the same one that claimed that giant pythons would invade up to Washington. There are no proven deaths and although the did SOME damage to the populations of Guam rails and other native birds, the main problem was determined to be loss of habitat and pollution- not snakes. this is another "attack of the snakes" media hype IMO.

 

[WckedMidas]

yes but the guy that wrote that paper for the USGS was the same one that claimed that giant pythons would invade up to Washington. There are no proven deaths and although the did SOME damage to the populations of Guam rails and other native birds, the main problem was determined to be loss of habitat and pollution- not snakes. this is another "attack of the snakes" media hype IMO.

love your avatar

 

[stanleyk]

Re: " the main problem was determined to be loss of habitat and pollution- not snakes. this is another "attack of the snakes" media hype IMO."

When I lived in Florida, there were outbreaks of urban legends every few years about escaped pythons grown to incredible sizes and/or killing people.

Not to belittle Florida's invasive snake problem, though...I understand there are populations of Burmese pythons established in the Everglades, and I can imagine that it could perturb the ecosystem in some way...just that people do go a little overboard about snakes sometimes

 

[coura]

I sometimes wonder if it is worth in 90% of the times to contain "invasive species", if its something to even consider in a globalized planet. Anyways, as long as humans are around it will only be a matter of time before pretty much everything lives everywhere. The irony is that the resulting ecossistems will probably have a higher biodiversity then the original, we see that everywhere. However if you like things like kakapo, hawaian finges, fligthless rails, etc, you better be ok with them being in captivity, as history told us that it only takes one invasion event from a generalistic predatory or competitive species, to wipe them out. Pristine is over (if there was ever such thing, as species have allways traveled the globe and causing extinctions and radiations in their path), people just cant seem to get over that.

 

[Wiggles92]

yes but the guy that wrote that paper for the USGS was the same one that claimed that giant pythons would invade up to Washington. There are no proven deaths and although the did SOME damage to the populations of Guam rails and other native birds, the main problem was determined to be loss of habitat and pollution- not snakes. this is another "attack of the snakes" media hype IMO.

I sometimes wonder if it is worth in 90% of the times to contain "invasive species", if its something to even consider in a globalized planet. Anyways, as long as humans are around it will only be a matter of time before pretty much everything lives everywhere. The irony is that the resulting ecossistems will probably have a higher biodiversity then the original, we see that everywhere. However if you like things like kakapo, hawaian finges, fligthless rails, etc, you better be ok with them being in captivity, as history told us that it only takes one invasion event from a generalistic predatory or competitive species, to wipe them out. Pristine is over (if there was ever such thing, as species have allways traveled the globe and causing extinctions and radiations in their path), people just cant seem to get over that.

x2 to both of these posts.

People need to learn that the environment is not a zoo; it is constantly changing and trying to artificially keep it the same will only do more harm than good. Now that doesn't mean that I'm fine with deforestation, pollution, and other detrimental things, but the spread and decline of species is something that needs to be allowed for rather than trying to preserve these organisms in the wild.

 

[coura]

Really delicate species need constant human atention in order to survive, wouldnt it make more sence to keep them close to humans in ex situ conditions, even as pets?