Navy Bombs Guam With Dead Frozen Mice

In a ploy to rid Guam of its population of invasive brown tree snakes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is bombing the island with drugged frozen mice, military news outlet Stars and Stripes reported.

...“The discovery that snakes will die when they eat acetaminophen was a huge step forward,” Anne Brooke, conservation resources program manager for Naval Facilities Command Marianas told Stars and Stripes. “The problem was how you get the snakes to eat it.”

The solution was to drop the mice into the snakes’ natural habitat, the branches of trees in the jungles of Guam. By outfitting the mice with cardboard wings and green party streams, the bait could float down to the jungle and catch on the branches. The result is a hanging, deadly snack for the snakes.

www.foxnews.com...

Hehe, havta say that is pretty clever. And brutal. What about the frigging mice? I suppose they all just died of natural causes, right?

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
the U.S. Department of Agriculture is bombing the island with drugged frozen mice

Jeez, talk about taking drastic measures in drastic times I had to read it twice to make sure I was reading correctly. Hope the poor snakes don't become addicted to the drugs?

reply to post by TortoiseKweek




The snakes DIE because of the drugs. So this is brutal to both. Once again, man has to screw with nature. There is always a price for upsetting natural occurrence, somewhere down the line.

Also, one has to question if over time they could develop resistance/antibodies to acetaminophen.

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
Also, one has to question if over time they could develop resistance/antibodies to acetaminophen.

In order to build up resistance, one must survive contact with said substance. If it kills outright, there is no chance of a resistance building.

Another name for acetaminophen is Paracetomol, apparently... Who'da'thunk'it...

reply to post by stumason


For the most part, true. However, there will be a few that will likely survive...Maybe they didn't eat as much, or the dose was lower in one, or...there could be many reasons. It is possible that those few could develop resistance...

reply to post by TrueAmerican

I like the part about cardboard wings.

Since the snakes would not eat only part of a mouse it would be reasonable to assume that each mouse is loaded with a certainly fatal dose. If somehow the first one they eat doesn't do the job, the next one will. Drug tolerance does not develop with a single near overdose.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Apparently, in tests done, every snake given a doped mouse was dead within 3 days, even those who regurgitated the meal because apparently they knew something was up afetr the swallowed it. So it seems to be pretty much 100% lethal to snakes, even if they change their minds afterwards.

I am unsure as to what effect it has on snakes, I am trying to find that out, but it looks to be pretty effective. it is lethal to cats and dogs too because they cannot metabolise the chemical, so if it is the same for snakes, no amount of exposure will ever yield an immunity to it.

What's stopping all the other native species from eating the same poisoned mice?

Snake populations in decline
www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.earthfiles.com...

Snake Populations Mysteriously Plummet
Scientists can't explain why 11 of 17 populations of snakes worldwide seems to have dropped sharply.

I understand trying to prevent damage from the invasive species but it seems like they're going to kill a whole lot other snakes in the process... Do snakes in jungles really go after dead, thawed mice?

reply to post by alaskan


Apparently they have studied the effect on native species and they don't seem to be grossly affected, so they deemed the risk negligable.

reply to post by alaskan

Guam has no native snakes.

Edit: land snakes.

If any one here has ever been to or lives on Guam, they'll be quite happy if this idea works. Those snakes are EVERYWHERE.

The source in the OP said they were drugged vice dead. But folks keep saying dead. Does anybody bother reading the sources anymore? Sheesh.

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
reply to post by TortoiseKweek

 

The snakes DIE because of the drugs. So this is brutal to both. Once again, man has to screw with nature. There is always a price for upsetting natural occurrence, somewhere down the line.

Also, one has to question if over time they could develop resistance/antibodies to acetaminophen.

Technically man is trying to undo his previous screwing of nature here. This species is invasive. Not naturally part of Indonesian wildlife.

reply to post by TrueAmerican

Frozen mice are readily available what do you think all those people with pet snakes use.The problem here is
if you have other predators such as mammals that eat mice they might get killed to.

I'm kinda skeptical that the wild snakes will go for this... I've owned quite a few snakes and know a thing or two about husbandry and it is almost impossible to get a wild-caught snake to eat a frozen mouse. They pretty much all have to be "trained" to even want to accept it as food. Sure they can smell that it is a mouse, but they need to be able to see the body heat too.

If they have a ready supply of live animals to eat (and they obviously do, otherwise they wouldn't be so abundant) they are going to pass up the frozen mice and other scavengers are going to eat them.

They may get a few in the process, but I highly doubt this is going to work out the way they want it to.

paracetomol is poisen
it destroys the liver
any living creature taking it is damaging there health
in my opinion it should be banned
some people pop em like candy
i feel sorry for the snakes like the people that take them they will die a pain ful death

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