Brown tree snake could pose costly threat to Hawaii
ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife specialist Tony Salas held a brown tree snake outside his office on Andersen Air Force Base on the island of Guam in Feb. 2013. The snake, which is native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, was accidentally introduced to Guam after World War II.
HILO » A state biosecurity plan says the brown tree snake could cause as much as $2 billion each year in damages if introduced to Hawaii.
The snake, which is native to Australia and Papua New Guinea, was accidentally introduced to Guam after World War II.
The invasive species has had a devastating impact on the island’s native bird populations and also costs Guam money because the snakes crawl into electrical transformers and cause blackouts, The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported on Monday.
“It’s pretty rare when we have a species that cuts across all issues as a problem,” said Christy Martin of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council.
The estimates cited to deal with a potential brown snake problem in the draft Hawaii Interagency Biosecurity Plan stem from the anticipated costs of establishing eradication programs and outbound cargo inspection plus the economic impacts on Hawaii’s agriculture and tourism sectors.
If Hawaii became known for having brown tree snakes “like Guam has, a lot less people would be inclined to come,” said Shane Siers, Hawaii field station leader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services National Wildlife Research Center. “And if all the native birds were wiped out, that would diminish the amount of nature enthusiasts visiting.”
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture spends $5 million annually to keep the brown tree snakes from getting into Guam’s outbound cargo.
Last year, more than 10,000 snakes were removed from areas surrounding Guam’s airports and seaports, Siers said.
Preventing the invasive animal from coming to Hawaii would be “a pretty darn good return on investment,” he said.
18 responses to “Brown tree snake could pose costly threat to Hawaii”
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I agree it would be wise to spend money to keep them out of Hawaii. I remember Dan Inouye being criticized for this. Republicans are so short sighted.
Along with insects, this is the kind of protein we need to consume, if we are to solve climate change.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/28/swedish-government-spend-millions-encourage-citizens-trade-meat-insects-end-global-warming/
I’m sure your able to provide us with the specific republican objection to stopping snakes from Guam.
I also agree, $5 mil well spent – the alternative would kill us. Imagine they caught 10,000 snakes just around the Guam airport last year alone, that is 27 snakes EACH DAY. Obviously Guam needs some instruction on how to contain their snake population!
What did they do with the 10000 snakes?
Cook-EM ‘Tastes like Chicken”
Wow, that’s a lot. Keep on doing it. We don’t want any.
Check everything coming from Guam, including people. Some nut might want to slip a snake to the Hawaii. It’s been tried before. Some people love snakes.
These snakes tend to fly to Oahu on military planes.
Simple way to eliminate the snake on Guam would be to place a bounty on the snake. History shows repeatedly that when money can be made in harvesting animals, they will be
wiped out to extinction in very short order. Why this is not done I do not understand. Put the free market to work and the snake will be only a memory in no time at all.
OR JUST LET THE GOVERNMENT MANAGE THEM
They wouldn’t make a dent in the population even if they offered $100
per snake. It’s like saying putting a bounty on cockroaches, rats or mongoose would be successful, it wouldn’t.
i would quit my job for 100$ per snake, cockroaches, rats or mongoose
Get a famed chef to come up with recipe for using this snake as a source of food. Like snake teri-yake, baked or other tasty meals?
Military and civilian transports from Australia, New Guinea and Guam need to install strict inspection policies on the those transports.
If this snake gets loose it will wipe out the bird population in Hawaii just like it did on Guam. But don’t worry the State will need a couple of years to study how best to kill them and by that time the snakes will take over. Just like the frog and the zeka virus. FLAT TIRE State not the Aloha State.
Do people eat these snakes?
Years ago the Territory’s wildlife division cooked the snakes and offered samples at a village fiesta; didn’t catch on.