US kills snakes in Guam by air dropping mice.
The United States government has a plan to get rid of the invasive brown tree snake from the island of Guam.
Helicopters will be deployed to drop mini-parachutes attached to dead mice stuffed with acetaminophen or Tylenol, which is poisonous to the snakes.
Unlike most snakes, the brown tree snake will eat prey that is already dead, and the government hopes that the parachutes will get caught in trees, to minimize their exposure to other animals besides the brown tree snake.
Scientists think that the first brown tree snake came to Guam about 60 years ago towards the end of World War II, and since then they have been a menace causing power outages, attacking people, and wiping out native birds.
According to Cheryl Calaustro from Guam's Department of Agriculture “The brown tree snake has had a devastating impact. Ten out of 12 native forest bird species disappeared in 30 years.”
Animal activists from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA disagree with the decision to eradicate the snake population using poisoned prey, saying that it could take the snakes days or weeks to die and the dead mice could negatively affect other animals on the island.
What do you think? Will this be an effective way of wiping out the invasive brown tree snake in Guam?
