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US gov't to air-drop toxic mice on Guam snakes
myFox ^

Posted on 02/22/2013 4:04:20 PM PST by traumer

ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AP) - Dead mice laced with painkillers are about to rain down on Guam's jungle canopy. They are scientists' prescription for a headache that has caused the tiny U.S. territory misery for more than 60 years: the brown tree snake.

Most of Guam's native bird species are extinct because of the snake, which reached the island's thick jungles by hitching rides from the South Pacific on U.S. military ships shortly after World War II. There may be 2 million of the reptiles on Guam now, decimating wildlife, biting residents and even knocking out electricity by slithering onto power lines.

More than 3,000 miles away, environmental officials in Hawaii have long feared a similar invasion - which in their case likely would be a "snakes on a plane" scenario. That would cost the state many vulnerable species and billions of dollars, but the risk will fall if Guam's air-drop strategy succeeds.

"We are taking this to a new phase," said Daniel Vice, assistant state director of U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific Islands. "There really is no other place in the world with a snake problem like Guam."

Brown tree snakes are generally a few feet (1 meter) long but can grow to be more than 10 feet (3 meters) in length. Most of Guam's native birds were defenseless against the nocturnal, tree-based predators, and within a few decades of the reptile's arrival, nearly all of them were wiped out.

(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxdc.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: napl
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To: traumer

Perhaps this is why the Russians buzzed Guam with their nuclear bombers...........


61 posted on 02/22/2013 7:10:59 PM PST by wonkowasright (Wonko from outside the asylum)
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To: RansomOttawa

Well Hank Johnson has already asked the Admiral if Guam is in danger of tipping over due to an excess number of military personell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZczIgVXjg

Sadly not making it up.


62 posted on 02/22/2013 7:15:16 PM PST by wonkowasright (Wonko from outside the asylum)
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To: traumer

This explains all the anti-aircraft gun sales to Guam. Look at the recipient....”Mr. I. M. Brownsnake”. We’ve got to warn the pilots! It’s just like Macho Grande all over again! Those boys, and dead drug-laden vermin, are flying right into an ambush! Where are the Wild Weasels? I know I’m just a kid, well, a really old kid, but somebody has to take this old crate out and clear a path for those brave guys in the bombers! I guess it’s up to me! Chief! Did you wind the rubber band good and tight? Rodger! Well, it’s off into the wild blue yonder. Tell Daisy that I’ll be holding her picture as I go in on my strafing run. Tally-HO!


63 posted on 02/22/2013 7:24:58 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“Unlike most snakes, brown tree snakes are happy to eat prey they didn’t kill themselves”


64 posted on 02/22/2013 7:25:06 PM PST by traumer
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To: null and void
that's what thought... but what do i know?
65 posted on 02/22/2013 7:29:48 PM PST by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: blueunicorn6

I’ll never get over Macho Grande...


66 posted on 02/22/2013 7:33:30 PM PST by null and void (Gun confiscation enables tyranny. Don't enable tyranny.)
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To: null and void

Pull yourself together! Those dead vermin need our help. You’re the best wingman in the.............well........you’re the best wingman here right now. I know they blew the wings off your plane at Macho Grande, but you don’t always need wings to fly! OK, they blew up your fuselage and engine and tail, but they didn’t get your lunchbox! Now get up there and fly this mission for that lunchbox! Hoist that thermos, with the little red plastic cup, up high and let’s show those stinkin’ brown snakes what we’re made of!


67 posted on 02/22/2013 7:45:20 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: traumer

They are so going to kill all the cats on Guam. Snakes not so much I bet.


68 posted on 02/22/2013 8:05:43 PM PST by lwoodham (I am Andrew Breitbart. Don't doubt me on this.)
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To: traumer

They’re about 30 years too late.


69 posted on 02/22/2013 8:37:52 PM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: JRandomFreeper
So the mice don't go through jump school and get their wings?

The Kamikaze mice battalion. It's a suicide mission. But they'll be heroes back home.

70 posted on 02/22/2013 8:46:41 PM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: lwoodham

A cat is smarter to eat a dead mouse


71 posted on 02/22/2013 8:50:57 PM PST by traumer
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To: traumer; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; martin_fierro; ...
Your-Tax-Dollars-At-Work ping!


72 posted on 02/22/2013 9:00:23 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (You can't have IngSoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: traumer; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; martin_fierro; ...
Your-Tax-Dollars-At-Work ping!


73 posted on 02/22/2013 9:01:18 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (You can't have IngSoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Uncle Chip
I asked for volunteers here, and the two catz and one mouse said "What mice?"

Wait a second.....

/johnny

74 posted on 02/22/2013 9:02:42 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: traumer

snakes in Guam


75 posted on 02/22/2013 9:03:44 PM PST by quintr
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To: Clay Moore
Great. Now hippies in Guam will be smoking dead rats for a high.

You can put your weed in there

76 posted on 02/22/2013 9:28:14 PM PST by JRios1968 (I'm guttery and trashy, with a hint of lemon. - Laz)
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To: Chode
IIRC these snakes do eat dead stuff.

All snakes will but you usually have to warm it up and make it twitch. These snakes will eat them without the song and dance act.

77 posted on 02/22/2013 9:45:30 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Promotional Fee Paid for by "Ouchies" The Sharp, Prickly Toy You Bathe With!)
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To: Daffynition

It’s rainin’ mice... hallelujah, it’s rainin’ mice...

Or, for the metalheads in the audience:

Raining mice
From a lacerated sky...


78 posted on 02/22/2013 10:39:56 PM PST by ZirconEncrustedTweezers (I'll stop being a cynic when the world stops giving me reasons to be cynical.)
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To: livius

What about all the other critters who will eat carrion whenever they find it?

They do have a bad problem but this sounds like a worse idea.

Any cat or dog finding these mice will die, too.


79 posted on 02/22/2013 10:47:41 PM PST by Salamander (We're all kinds of animals comin' round here...occasional demons, too.)
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To: Salamander

Sounds like they’re dying from being eaten by the snakes right now.


80 posted on 02/23/2013 3:24:37 AM PST by livius
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