I killed my first brown tree snake tonight. It was crawling along the fence in front of the house. After the head was severed and while the remains were still moving, Molly the boonie-dog-in-training decided to confront the beast.
Brown tree snakes, which were inadvertently imported onto the island at the end of WWII, have done inconceivable damage to the ecosystem and economy here. Nine of the 11 native bird species (along with a host of bats) have disappeared from Guam because of the snakes. Unchecked by the birds and the bats the insects have gotten out of hand -- affecting agricultural production, among other things.Molly and I are doing our part to restore paradise. However, we probably have our work cutout for us. It is reported that there are 2,000 of these snakes per sq km on the island.
2 comments:
Oh my goodness, Brad. That is incredible. Snakes on a Plane opened yesterday...but that's nothing compared to Snakes in Our Yard.
Factoid: David Delassandro got the idea for the story line of "Snakes on a Plane" in 1992 by reading a nature magazine. "I read about the Indonesian brown tree snake climbing onto planes in cargo during World War II." (Wikipedia)
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