This is Joyce Owen and Happiness Lodge (one of our students) For the last couple of years the two of them have had a competition to see who could catch and kill the most Brown Tree Snakes.
Also pictured.... One Huge Brown Tree Snake about to meet his maker. This is by far the biggest one that I have seen since I have been here. According to some sources(AKA Brad), it could have been about 6 feet long. In their natural environment where they actually have preditors, they are more typically 2 - 4 feet long.
The good news is that each year the number of snakes caught gets smaller AND the bird population seems to be getting bigger. Hopefully this is a sign that the efforts to control the snake population are beginning to be effective. The local electric company just reported having trapped 2000 of them. Another program is sending the snakes to a center in the mainland to have the males sterilzed and introduced back onto the Island. Brad reports that they have also tried to kill them by introducing rats laced with Tylenol. That sounds like killing 2 birds with one stone.
The good news is at least I did not get chased across campus with this snake.
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