Wow. 1,300 brown tree snakes per square mile on Guam? I feel scared if I see an harmless adder once every 20 years!
US to spend millions helping rid Guam, Hawaii of brown tree snakes
The United States Senate has authorised the spending of millions of dollars to eradicate the brown tree snake from the Pacific islands of Guam and Hawaii.
Our reporter, Sean Dorney, says Guam’s Department of Agriculture has mounted a long term campaign to combat the introduced snake, which has wiped out many native bird species.
The brown tree snake is native to northern Australia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands and is believed to have been introduced to Guam in the 1940s from Manus Island in PNG where the US military had a major base during World War II.
The brown tree snake has no natural predator on Guam and spread quickly.
It is now estimated there are 1,300 brown tree snakes per square mile on Guam and apart from devestating local wildlife, the snakes cause, on average, a power cut every three days on Guam by climbing up power poles and into transformers.
http://www.abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNP_1219323.htm