Tylenol-loaded mice dropped from air to control snakes

CNN ^ | September 7, 2010

[billorites]

Dead mice packed with acetaminophen, strapped to pieces of cardboard and dropped from helicopters may help control one of the big headaches for the Pacific island of Guam – the brown tree snake.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week began dropping the expired rodents packed with 80 mg of the generic equivalent of Tylenol on the forests of Naval Base Guam.

Since scientists discovered that the household pain reliever was deadly to the brown tree snakes, they’ve been trying to figure out how to get it to where many of the serpents live in the canopies of the island’s forests, according to a report in Stars & Stripes. The Tylenol-loaded mice are attached to two pieces of cardboard joined by paper streamers that snake exterminators hope will catch on tree branches, providing deadly snacks for snakes at those heights, according to the Stripes report.

The aerial attack on the tree snakes is designed to augment current trapping systems, which are placed around ports and airports to prevent the snakes from hitching rides to other Pacific islands such as Hawaii and causing the same ecological nightmares they’ve been responsible for on Guam.

"The brown tree snake traps that you see around Guam are actually the most effective trap for catching snakes in the world," USDA Assistant State Director Dan Vice told Guam Newswatch.

"Most of the traps that people see however are sitting on a fence or on a port. And they're targeting the few snakes that might get to that fence."

So the mouse bombs have begun falling on the jungle forests, where the USDA says there can be as many as 20 brown tree snakes per acre, one of the highest snake densities recorded anywhere in the world.

The USDA says brown tree snakes have wiped out...

[Aria]

I once read that these snakes will attack a baby...and have been known to show up in unexpected places like toilets.

I wouldn’t live on the same island as they do.

[dfwgator]

Won’t they tip over the island?

[justsaynomore]

Only if all the snakes go to one end.

[OCCASparky]

I remember when I was stationed there, the TV/radio station sponsored a contest at the local mall with a new truck being given away to the person who brought in the most brown tree snakes.

IIRC, the winner brought in over 30 THOUSAND snakes.

[Boogieman]

I don’t know if this will have much of an effect. A lot of animals will simply leave an area after some start dying from poison, and find a safer range. Or, some of the snakes could have an immunity to this toxin, then this would just select for that portion of the population, and in a few generations, they’d be an even bigger problem.

[OCCASparky]

I once read that these snakes will attack a baby

Nah, not true, although if an infant is bitten it might be harmful to them simply because of their size. They have, however, destroyed most of the native bird population. The only ones I remember seeing on Guam were a sparrow which if you got anywhere near their nests, they'd swoop down and attack. It was actually so bad that joggers would run with tennis rackets to swing at the birds as they tried to dive-bomb us.

[cicero2k]

The person who mailed the weaponized anthrax bacteria in 2001 also used acetaminophen for his own death.

Until then, I had no idea how deadly acetaminophen is and that an over the counter substance could be used this way.

[nmh]

Ah, what if the mice land DEAD, will the snakes still eat them? Isn’t much of the fun for these snakes going after LIVE prey?

[nmh]

Ah, what if the mice land DEAD, will the snakes still eat them? Isn’t much of the fun for these snakes going after LIVE prey?

[Husker24]

I thought snakes would only eat live prey.

[Walkingfeather]

But dont snakes only eat live prey?

[Cyman]

I broke into a cold sweat just reading this story.

[Boogieman]

Sounds like "Whacking Day"!

[nmh]

Let’s say the mice land DEAD, won’t scavengers who eat DEAD animals also die? There is no way a mouse is going to say, dead or alive - SNAKE, EAT ME and DIE!

I think this will harm more animals than the snake. Why not just kill the troublesome snakes instead of endangering other animals?

[6SJ7]

Dead mice packed with acetaminophen, strapped to pieces of cardboard and dropped from helicopters ...

No parachutes yet. Can't be skydivers...

[Venturer]

I wonder how PETA will respond to the execution of all those mice.

Poor little things used in such a way./s/

[HerrBlucher]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week began dropping the expired rodents packed with 80 mg of the generic equivalent of Tylenol on the forests of Naval Base Guam.

Looks like they are dead (expired) even before being dropped.

[McGavin999]

A program to eliminate these snakes was signed by JD Hayworth and McCain used it to beat him over the head. We heard about it on the radio day after day after day. Seems he was right to agree to spending on this.

[nmh]

That’s what I was wondering ... LIVE prey is what I believe they pursue; not DEAD prey.

This sounds like another liberal wet dream to solve a problem. What’s the background on this guy suggesting this? He’s sounding like an air head.