GUAM- The US Department of Agriculture (USDA), Wildlife Services, tested out a new system to combat the brown tree snake at the Naval Base Guam. Dead mice packed with 80 mg of acetaminophen (tylenol) were dropped from a low-flying helicopter. The mice also contain radio transmitters to make sure the snakes are taking the bait.
Dan Vice, Assistant State Director USDA, says that the drops will be help fight the battle in the jungle.
“In order to do it [traps] on ground you got to go up and actually walk up to a tree,” said Vice. “Or you got to go to a bait station and place the bait inside that station. In a chunk of forest, that you don’t have a road, or you got really steep terrain you simply can’t get to it by foot. The idea here is by using an aerial delivery system we can put it into a larger landscape and more effectively control snakes across a bigger area.”
The deadly deliveries will be combined with the traps already in use.
“The brown tree snake traps that you see around Guam are actually the most effective trap for catching snakes in the world,” said Vice. “Most of the traps that people see however are sitting on a fence or on a port. And they’re targeting the few snakes that might get to that fence.”
More testing is planned for next year on Andersen. If all goes well, baits could be dropped all over the island.