Invasive Species Control 



WS conducted a number of direct and 

 technical assistance projects in 1999 to help 

 control damage, threats to human health and 

 safety, and impacts on natural resources 

 caused by invasive, nonnative wildlife. The 

 most significant of these is WS' brown tree 

 snake (BTS) program on the island of Guam. 



The BTS is a major threat to wildlife diversity 

 in the Pacific region. The snake has already 

 eliminated 9 of the 12 species of forest birds 

 on Guam since its accidental introduction 

 there 50 years ago. Most of the island's 

 terrestrial vertebrates have also been killed by 

 the snake. The mildly venomous snakes have 

 bitten many children and killed many pets. 

 Well over a thousand electric power outages 

 from short circuits caused by snakes have 

 occurred, and Guam's agricultural interests, 

 primarily poultry, have been severely damaged 

 by this species. The BTS is also an enormous 

 impediment to outbound cargo and U.S. 

 military operations in the region because of 

 the potential for accidentally moving this 

 invasive pest to other Pacific islands and the 

 U.S. mainland when it hides in cargo or in 

 surface vehicles and aircraft. 



Since 1993, WS has conducted a BTS damage 

 management program on Guam in cooperation 

 with the Department of Defense (DoD) and 

 Department of the Interior, and in partnership 

 with the governments of Guam and Hawaii. 

 The focus of this program is to control BTS 

 damage on Guam and prevent the snake's 

 introduction to other Pacific islands and the 

 U.S. mainland. Wildlife specialists make 

 extensive use of snake traps and canine 

 detection teams to accomplish that mission. 

 Specialists also manage the snake's prey base, 

 including rats and nonnative birds, to 

 establish snake-free zones around civilian and 

 military airports and Guam's shipping ports to 

 reduce the attractiveness of these areas to the 

 snakes. 



LU 



