Guam to be "bombed" first time since WW2

[Liberator]

The US island of Guam is to be "bombed" for the first time since WW2 in May and June 2013

The amazing "bombing" will involve dead but poison baited mice being dropped to kill of up to 2 million snakes killing the island - http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/wo ... 6583768788

Anderson Air Force base is surrounded by the snakes.

I guess they wont use B-29 or B-52 but....... humble helicopters.

Maybe a BUFF Arclight cell would be more appropriate for the island?... raining mice, those B-52 belly could carry a few million mice

[The Inspector]

The answer is...........................42

[Cherrybomber13]

As God as my witness I thought turkeys could fly...

[bombadier29]

This isn't the first time this has been done on Guam. It was done at least a couple of times in the early-mid 70s by C-123s. It had no effect on the population of the snakes as I recall. The poison may be different but I do recall poison rats being used.

[hang the expense]

Get the swamp people on that and the island will snake free by monday morning.

[Cherrybomber13]

So let me get this straight, they are going to put Ratt and Poison on an Island in the South Pacific, sound like one hell of an 80's concert or reality show to me...
Seriously how the hell can they do this with out the EPA, Hippies for Snakes and M.O.U.S.E. getting involved to stop it... try that around Connecticut.

[hang the expense]

So let me get this straight, they are going to put Ratt and Poison on an Island in the South Pacific, sound like one heck of an 80's concert or reality show to me...
Seriously how the heck can they do this with out the EPA, Hippies for Snakes and M.O.U.S.E. getting involved to stop it... try that around Connecticut.

DANG GREAT IDEA

[expat]

Thought snakes liked food warm, i,e alive ?

[SaxMan]

Almost sounds like it should have been part of the Ten Plagues

[Steve Nelson]

I was baffled myself at the idea of using dead mice, as I've never known snakes to be interested in carrion. But according to the article, the browns are one of the few snakes that are perfectly fine with munching on pre-killed prey.

So let me get this straight, they are going to put Ratt and Poison on an Island in the South Pacific, sound like one heck of an 80's concert or reality show to me...

Back in 1987, some friends and I were in Akron for a buddy's wedding. As we were checking into the hotel, some there was a big bus in the parking lot, and some dude with long curly blond hair and a bright metallic yellow jacket and black spandex pants was being swarmed by teenage girls. The desk clerk told us it was the "Ratt/Poison" tour, who were staying at the hotel (as we were checking out a couple days later, "Duran Duran" was checking in.)

SN

[k5083]

Thought snakes liked food warm, i,e alive ?

Generally they do. The brown tree snake is unusual in that it doesn't mind dead food.

This apparently is a really major problem.



The snakes are mildly venomous and dangerous only to children because of their low body mass. (Which makes me think -- what a-hole would see this and pause to take a picture?) But they have wiped out a bunch of defenseless species on the island and are making inroads on the rest.

Other Pacific islands including Hawaii are scared of the same thing. If you spend any time in Hawaii you learn how strict they are about intentional and accidental snake imports. Important critters like the state bird, the nei-nei, live and nest on the ground with basically no defense against predators. Some snakes slip through and are found in Hawaii but it seems they are winning the continual war not to let a breeding population get established.

This is the problem I see with Guam. OK, so the snakes are tylenol intolerant and you can kill them with dead mice. What if you kill 99% of the 2 million that are there? Seems like the remaining 20,000 would be more than enough to breed the population back up in a few generations. And they might be a strain of tylenol tolerant supersnakes. "Life finds a way." - Michael Crighton.

August

[alang]

When I was at NAS Agana in 1959 and 1960 the problem was shrews that were brought in to kill rats, must be the snakes are feeding on the shrews.