Intensive search on for brown tree snakes in Dandan

Various agencies have responded to two brown tree snake sightings on Saipan. According to the CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife, the sightings happened in the Dandan area northeast of the Francisco C. Ada-Saipan International Airport.

The sightings were reported by Dandan residents to the CNMI Brown Tree Snake program on Jan. 2 and Jan. 8 but the actual sightings occurred about two weeks earlier.

According to DFW, expert investigators conducted detailed interviews and deemed those reports credible.

“A brown tree snake sighting in the CNMI is serious business,” DFW director Manny Pangelinan said. “This effort requires the people’s involvement to make sure the brown tree snake is killed and does not establish itself on Saipan.”

An interagency Brown Tree Snake Rapid Response Team was activated and a team of six highly trained searchers was deployed by the U.S. Geological Survey in Guam to work alongside 13 biologists and staff of DFW and the CNMI BTS Coordinator from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

USGS will remain on island through Jan. 24 to coordinate the search effort. DLNR-DFW will continue long-term trapping, nighttime snake searches, and bird and snake prey monitoring.

The team has been establishing search transects, cutting trails, doing night searches, and setting snake traps to cover the area the snake or snakes may have reached. Over 80 mouse-baited traps have been set.

According to Wildlife Section supervisor Anne Orlando, brown tree snakes tend to move and search for prey at night and around dawn and dusk. Because of this, searchers wearing orange safety vests are using high-powered headlamps to carefully search the ground and trees for 4 to 5 hours nightly.

According to a BTS expert from USGS in Guam, if one happens to see a brown tree snake, it is best to approach it slowly and not scare it away, then hit it with a sharp object, preferably decapitating it or cutting it in half.

“This is most easily accomplished when a snake is lying on a hard surface. If a brown tree snake is in vegetation it may be necessary to grab it by the tail or mid-body with your hands in order to keep it from escaping, but exercise caution when attempting this and keep a safe distance from the head. Immediately kill the snake once you have it in your control by using a sharp object,” Adam Knox of USGS Guam said.

“The brown tree snake could have devastating effects on not just Saipan’s unique animals and plants, but its economy as well, as seen in places like Guam,” USFWS coordinator/biologist Sylvan Igisomar said.

“We cannot afford to have any snakes establish here in the CNMI. The bird population is currently healthy, which in turn provides us natural defense against potential invasive species such as the coconut rhinoceros beetle. Without our birds, perhaps more invasive species would be present on our island, just like Guam where there are practically no birds,” DLNR Secretary Richard Seman said.

In September 2014, a live brown tree snake was found on Rota and another dead one was recovered from Rota’s waters in 2009.

The BTS Rapid Response team urged the public to assist this effort by calling the snake hotline at 28-SNAKE (287-6253) if they see a snake.