Navy Bombs Guam With Dead Frozen Mice

[pintobean]

This is from fox news. I followed a link to it.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/01/navy-bombs-guam-dead-mice/?test=latestnews

<snip>
In a ploy to rid Guam of its population of invasive brown tree snakes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is bombing the island with drugged frozen mice, military news outlet Stars and Stripes reported.

Using Naval Base Guam as a starting point, scientists drop mice packed with acetaminophen from helicopters into the jungle canopy.

The drug -- commonly found in Tylenol -- provided a regulatory advantage because it had already undergone extensive testing, Dan Vice, assistant state director of USDA Wildlife Services in Hawaii, Guam and the Pacific Islands, told Stars and Stripes.

<snip>
The solution was to drop the mice into the snakes’ natural habitat, the branches of trees in the jungles of Guam. By outfitting the mice with cardboard wings and green party streams, the bait could float down to the jungle and catch on the branches. The result is a hanging, deadly snack for the snakes.
<snip>

[Cirque du So-What]

1. I am not a herpetologist

but I am dubious about the prospect of enticing snakes to eat cold, dead mice. I have never heard of a snake going after anything other than live prey.

[InvisibleTouch]

3. Most will eat frozen-thawed readily.

Brown tree snakes especially are gluttons who have been known to grab a steak off a grill and scrape roadkill from the streets. (Yes, I have some experience with these guys.)

My worry is about what *else* might eat those tainted mice. True, there's not much of an ecosystem left on Guam, but I hope the native animals who are still there, won't be endangered by this ploy. Ultimately it won't wipe out the whole snake population anyway ... with an invasive species like this, there will always be some survivors, and they'll re-populate.

[blindpig]

37. yep

Take some stimulus money and hire a hundred out of work herpers at minimum w/room & board & $10 a snake, ya may not exterminate them but you'll knock the shit out of them. Great fun too, more fun than a barrel of tree boas.

[GoCubsGo]

22. There are companies that sell frozen, dead mice as food for captive snakes

Many snake species will eat them readily after they are thawed. You can buy any life stage from adults down to recently-born "pinkies" for smaller snakes and other carnivorous reptiles.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. This one is almost as good as the chicken cannon.

NASA developed a device that uses compressed CO2 to launch dead chickens. They use it to test the "bird-worthiness" of the cabin windshields of new aircraft designs: Will the plane withstand the impact of a several-pound bird?

The British asked to borrow the device to test a new plane design of theirs. They fired a chicken at their plane and it smashed through the windshield and embedded itself in the bulkhead behind the pilot's station. They tried it a couple of more times with the same results. Then they brought in an American aeronautical engineer to consult on what was wrong with the aircraft design. He went over their data and test procedures, and then gave them his recommendation:

"First, thaw the chicken."

[backscatter712]

4. They covered that story on Mythbusters.

Though IIRC, the real reason for the chicken gun was to test jet engines.

Remember what brought down US Airways flight 1549, forcing Captain Sully to ditch in the Hudson - geese in the engines!

[Jackpine Radical]

5. I actually always assumed it was a joke.

I was surprised to discover there was even a kernel of truth in the story. I recounted it here for the hell of it, assuming most people would know it was a put-on.

[stevedeshazer]

24. I'm dying here.

:rofl:

No words.

[babylonsister]

6. I lived in Guam and brown tree snakes were blamed for

everything! Handy scapegoats (snakes?) for failed infrastructure. I saw one dead in the middle of the road in 11 months.

[Obamanaut]

8. I lived there for three years (1968 - 71), and we saw one small one in

our yard. Only heard about 2 or 3 others during that time.

Lots of snails and stonecrabs though.

[cleanhippie]

10. I lived in Guam in 94-95, and there were no birds. Not a single one.

All gone because of the brown tree snake. As far as getting blamed for everything, I don't know about that, but it did seem they liked getting into the electric sub-stations and caused power outages quite frequently.

[babylonsister]

43. Hey, we were there the same time; I got there in May of 95.

As for substations, I heard snakes were always to blame, never the salt water that deteriorated the infrastructure, or the people responsible for keeping up with said deterioration. Then there was always the excuse, for any part they didn't have, 'it's on the boat'. :eyes:
We moved there right around when K-Mart first opened; that was a big deal to Guam.

[Poll_Blind]

7. So someone was paid to (glue?) cardboard wings & party streamers on drugged mice?

Oh my.

PB

[L0oniX]

19. Meg Whitman's undocumented slave found a new job.

[Obamanaut]

41. They were dead so they didn't protest. nt

[ensho]

9. how out of bounds can our military get - the brass are idiots

nt

[cleanhippie]

11. Do you even know why they want to do this?

[ensho]

12. yes

nt

[cleanhippie]

14. So why do you call them idiots and say they are out of bounds?

I just don't follow your position, i need more info to understand where you are coming from.

[ensho]

18. guess you will just have to think about it for awhile

nt

[pintobean]

20. It's a U.S. Department of Agriculture project

The Navy is just doing the distribution for them. It appears you didn't even read the story, much less, think before replying.

[cleanhippie]

23. Uh, yeah, ok. So you make a strange and unfounded comment, I ask you to clairy

and you tell me to "just think about it". Is it possible for you to be more obtuse or disingenuous?

I really do want to know where you are coming from. If you have no desire to discuss this, why are you 1) on a DISCUSSION board and 2) Why did you make a comment in the first place?

[ensho]

26. is dropping drugged mice something our Navy is supposed to do?

is that part of the Navy's job description?

[cleanhippie]

28. I certainly could be.

The job of the Armed Forces is to do many different and diverse things. I see this action akin to calling in the National Guard during an emergency. The brown tree snake is a non-native snake that got to the island by ship and plane and has killed the ENTIRE bird population on Guam. All of them. Not most, not some, but all. There is not a single bird on Guam, period. The snakes also get into power stations and cause blackouts. I think one could call this an emergency situation. The Navy has the assets and manpower in place to do this job for little cost. Seems like a reasonable course of action instead of calling in a private group to spend even more money to do it.
What is your reasoning for opposing the Navy doing this? What would be your alternative solution?

[Obamanaut]

40. Only the dead/frozen ones. nt

[Posteritatis]

30. Then enlighten us. (nt)

[Bigmack]

13. Ensho and others... I disagree...

I think this is a fine use of our military. They are defending US soil against invaders.

Besides, it will keep them from other invasions.

[Enrique]

15. so now the snakes' headaches are gone? n/t

[alfredo]

27. Yeah, but their livers are a mess.

[Steven_S]

16. Meeces of Mass Destruction

hoo-rah !

[smokey nj]

17. I guess we could call these Jerry bombs.

[pintobean]

21. lol

:applause:

[stevedeshazer]

25. +1

[Jeffersons Ghost]

29. Wings on mice!!! LOL

[uppityperson]

31. Headline from the Department of Redundancy Department. I hope frozen mice are dead.

[pintobean]

32. That was the first thing that I noticed

It's fox. :shrug:

[Matariki]

33. "By outfitting the mice with cardboard wings and green party streams"

That image is going to be in my head for a long time!

[pintobean]

34. party on

[Matariki]

35. The other image I can't get out of my head -

is US troops outfitting those tiny mice with little wings and streamers.

I imagine it must be like KP duty, but worse. Or at least weirder.

[pintobean]

36. Do you think they might have

written insults to the snakes on the wings and streamers? They write insults to the enemy on conventional bombs.

[Bigmack]

39. One word... "contractors"... Blackwater did the decorations! nt

[Iggo]

38. What could possibly go wrong?

[Obamanaut]

42. WIth a few minor changes, this could be a WKRP storyline. "As god is

my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."