Brown Tree Snakes on Guam

Brown Tree Snake and Mouse
(Guam) As World War II in the Pacific concluded, no longer needed war material/military equipment in Papua New Guinea was shipped to Guam to help rebuild the island decimated by bloody combat. Transported within the material and equipment were brown tree snakes, an invasive species.

Through the decades since introduction, the population of brown tree snakes on Guam has ballooned, prompting a new control effort.

On Sunday, approximately 2,000 dead mice pumped full of Tylenol were dropped across the island in an effort to eliminate a species of snake that officials say is responsible for inflicting millions of dollars of damage.

Dan Vice, a Wildlife Services biologist with the US Department of Agriculture who has worked on the project for more than a decade, said the mice filled with 80 mg of acetaminophen are used to kill the invasive brown tree snake population that was accidentally introduced to the island around 60 years ago.

A pilot project involving 280 mice dropped in a similar manner was conducted in 2010, and the success of that project allowed for the official aerial bait drops that began in September 2013.[…]

An estimated one to two million snakes live around the island, Vice said, making the aerial bait drops the most effective and efficient way of controlling the population while not affecting other animals on Guam like deer and pigs.

Frankly, I suggest that putting a bounty on the brown tree snakes would effectively control their numbers.