Tylenol may help cure Guam’s snake headache

By Donovan Brooks
To say that the brown tree snake has been a headache for Guam and the federal government is a vast understatement. The U.S. Geological Survey recently cited a report that the annual cost to the territory associated with snake-related power outages is about $4.5 million. The cost of the snake’s decimation of bird and other native species as well as other effects on the ecosystem here is incalculable. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the USGS are spending millions in research, control and eradication efforts. Therefore, it is a revelation that the active ingredient in some over-the-counter pain relief products might be the medicine that finally grants Guam some snake relief. Dan Vice, Guam state director for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said that the bulk of what his agency has focused on with snake spreading prevention is transporting them. Should the snake spread unchecked in Hawaii, some officials fear it could cause ecological and economical damage costing $400 million annually. Following a National Wildlife Research Center breakthrough, Vice and others hope to go after the snake with acetaminophen, a substance proven toxic to the reptiles. The brown tree snake is not native to Guam. The island was free of predatory snakes until the Boiga Irregularis was brought in. They live in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Melanesia and likely came to Guam after the end of WWII as stowaways in military cargo shipments. In the mid 1950s, residents began reporting snake sightings or captures. In the mid 60s, scientists noted a declining bird population. It was not until 1987 when Julie Savidge published a PhD thesis on the subject that the connection between the tree-dwelling snake and Guam’s quieting forests was accepted. However, it was too late. The birds were all but gone. In the 15 years that Vice has headed the USDA’s efforts on Guam to keep the brown tree snake from infesting other areas, his office has provided information and training to military and civilian cargo handlers, set up snake traps along the perimeter of air and sea ports, run teams of dog handlers and patrolled designated areas on foot at night seeking the nocturnal creatures. The outfit now has 61 people and an annual budget of $4.2 million. The USGS maintains a four-person rapid-response snake sighting team on Guam that reacts to local and regional reports of snakes. With the planned military buildup in Guam beginning in 2010, it will provide much more opportunity for snakes to get on the island. The USDA snake catchers already work around the clock, seven days a week, covering port facilities. In fiscal 2007, they caught more than 13,000 snakes. The snake has been sighted in Saipan and eight dead snakes have been found in Hawaii. “At the same time, we’re really trying to do more for Guam,” Vice said. “We want to do larger scale population reduction, as opposed to just maintaining a defensive posture.” With the proven effectiveness of acetaminophen, the tactic may provide an effective and selective management tool for quickly and efficiently reducing populations of brown tree snakes on Guam. Even if the snake is eventually eradicated from Guam, other problems that are believed to stem from the snake’s invasion are only beginning to be understood. A study by Haldre Rogers, a member of the 2002 USGS team, found the extirpation of Guam birds has changed the way local forests grow. Without birds to spread tree seeds away from mature trees, seeds that drop to the ground are more likely to become spoiled, or grow in a clump. Also, an explosion in the native spider population is likely due to the reduced bird population. There is a definite possibility that some species will go extinct. Other species will likely be reduced, but persist. Of the tree species in the native forests of Guam, 60 to 80 percent are dispersed by birds. The hope is that someday people will be able to eradicate the snakes and reintroduce birds.