Controlling the brown tree snake population

After World War II in the mid-’40s, troops began moving cargo to the island of Guam. This is when the brown tree snake was introduced. It is believed that it took only one female brown tree snake that got to Guam through shipped cargo from the Solomon Islands to have had the snake’s population survive in Guam.

For over 40 years, the snake continued to reproduce in the Apra Harbor area in Guam, and in 1985 people began to notice that something was going wrong. Many birds on the island began to disappear. Julie Savage was featured in a book called And no Birds Sing, telling the story of the brown tree snake, though many people did not believe her, and thought that the birds were dying from certain diseases. In 1989, $30,000 in funding for brown tree snake control came for the CNMI. The treat increased to other islands that received cargo from Guam and the program expanded. So, in 2007, the funding for brown tree snake control was $6.4 million, which was divided between Guam, Hawaii, the CNMI, and FSM.

There are four different ways used to control the population of the brown tree snake in the CMNI. There are traps, dogs, containment barriers, and education.

Traps are set up at places such as airports to try and capture the snakes. There are about 500 traps set up in the CNMI; each trap costs about $85.

Dogs are also used to try and catch the snakes. There are six specially trained dogs—one on Tinian and five on Saipan—used to sniff out the snakes. These dogs are also trained to sniff out other creatures such as coconut crabs, sea turtles, and bats, partly to keep them busy, and partly to help protect other animals.

Barriers are another type of brown tree snake control. These are walls that are about four feet high with overhangs to put cargo in so snakes inside cannot escape.

Education is also used for brown tree snake control. By teaching others about the brown tree snake, people can help protect our environment.

Some people ask why we should try to control the brown tree snake. Well, there are many reasons why we try to control the snakes and some are quite important.

The brown tree snake is a predator to animals such as birds, chickens, dogs, and cats. Basically, they will eat anything except for cane toads, which give them bad reactions. One type of bird that they eat, the Nightingale Reed Warbler, is an endangered species. The snake however, does not have any predators and is the worst type of snake to have because they are camouflaged, nocturnal, and live in trees so they cannot be seen.

Guam loses about $1 million to $4 million a year due to power outages, because approximately every three days or so, the snakes cause power outages when they try to eat the birds resting on power lines.

One out of every 1,000 people admitted into the hospital in Guam are there due to the brown tree snake.

Many people may think that there is no use worrying over the brown tree snake. But if you really think about it, there is. The snakes don’t look that dangerous and are not usually seen, but they can cause a lot more damage than people would assume. The main use of controlling the brown tree snake is to protect our environment, and our people. We do not want to have any of our birds listed as endangered species because the brown tree snake has established itself in the CNMI. If you see a brown tree snake, contact Fish and Wildlife immediately at 28-SNAKE (287-6253).

This article was written for CoCo by Jessica R. Soll, a 10th grader at Saipan International School.