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US gov't to air-drop toxic mice on Guam snakes
myFox ^

Posted on 02/22/2013 4:04:20 PM PST by traumer

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AP) - 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 air-drop 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 (1 meter) long but can grow to be more than 10 feet (3 meters) in length. 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxdc.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: napl
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1 posted on 02/22/2013 4:04:24 PM PST by traumer
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To: traumer

What can possibly go wrong.....


2 posted on 02/22/2013 4:05:00 PM PST by traumer
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To: traumer

It hasn’t tipped over yet?


3 posted on 02/22/2013 4:05:30 PM PST by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both)
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To: traumer
What can possibly go wrong.....

LOL!

4 posted on 02/22/2013 4:06:37 PM PST by Hot Tabasco (Jab her with a harpoon or just throw her from the train......)
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To: traumer
So the mice don't go through jump school and get their wings?

/johnny

5 posted on 02/22/2013 4:06:37 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: traumer

just practicing for the homeland?
(old folks’ homes first ?)


6 posted on 02/22/2013 4:09:11 PM PST by faithhopecharity (()
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To: traumer

I can think of a few toxic ‘Rats I wouldn’t mind seeing tossed out of a plane.


7 posted on 02/22/2013 4:10:39 PM PST by Stormdog (A rifle transforms one from subject to Citizen)
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To: Stormdog

Same here but I can’t decide if we start with the House or the Senate or the Whitehut.


8 posted on 02/22/2013 4:12:12 PM PST by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off.)
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To: faithhopecharity
just practicing for the homeland?

Most of the snakes are in Washington D.C.

9 posted on 02/22/2013 4:12:22 PM PST by Alaska Wolf (I)
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To: traumer

Great. Now hippies in Guam will be smoking dead rats for a high.


10 posted on 02/22/2013 4:12:44 PM PST by Clay Moore ("In politics, stupidity is not a handicap." Napoleon Bonaparte)
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To: traumer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz3Cc7wlfkI


11 posted on 02/22/2013 4:13:37 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: traumer
do snakes eat dead stuff???
12 posted on 02/22/2013 4:14:10 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: JRandomFreeper
So the mice don't go through jump school and get their wings?

...provoking a weird mental image of a platoon of mice running in formation and squeaking out some Jody cadence...

13 posted on 02/22/2013 4:14:11 PM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: traumer

Those must be some accurate guided mice!


14 posted on 02/22/2013 4:15:05 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: CodeToad

Where does Soros live?


15 posted on 02/22/2013 4:15:51 PM PST by exnavy (Fish or cut bait ...Got ammo, Godspeed!)
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To: Chode

See, now you are getting logical, that is never a good idea.


16 posted on 02/22/2013 4:16:02 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: Chode

make it warm, I guess


17 posted on 02/22/2013 4:16:57 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: traumer
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
18 posted on 02/22/2013 4:16:57 PM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: traumer

Oddly enough, humans are one of the few animals that can tolerate at least some acetaminophen. And even then, it kills lots of humans every year.

While it will kill snakes, it is incredibly toxic to cats. Just destroys their kidneys.


19 posted on 02/22/2013 4:17:19 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (Best WoT news at rantburg.com)
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To: Chode

apparently, brown tree snakes will eat anything


20 posted on 02/22/2013 4:18:08 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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