Beautiful Paradise Threatened by Massive Invasion of Unwelcome Guests

Frightening Social Paralysis Happens as Urgent Action is Costly

File: Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) (8387580552).jpg Description Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park, Source Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) Author Pavel Kirillov from St. Petersburg, Russia This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. CC BY-SA 2.0 Deed | Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic | Creative Commons File: Brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) (8387580552).jpg — Wikimedia Commons I made no changes to this image.

Introduction

This article will address the brown tree snake, the havoc it has wrought on the island of Guam, and the effort to control and, in some cases, eradicate it. If you were to visit Guam, this is something that you need to be sure about because of the immense population. One word of caution about wandering around in unfamiliar places is in order here.

Venomous brown tree snakes are plentiful in the forest and jungle. My wife, family, and I spent two years in Guam at the start of the 1980s. We don’t recall ever seeing a single snake while living there. We did not feel threatened by snakes because they were not prevalent, or so we thought.

Brown snakes described.

File: Snake browntree.jpg Brown Tree Snake on Fence Post, Guam 2003 by Mark Kempen. Rear gate of the Micronesian Mall (Guam). Uploaded by creator. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed | Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported | Creative Commons File: Snake browntree.jpg — Wikimedia Commons I made no changes to this image.

So, what is a brown tree snake, you might ask? It is a slender snake that can grow up to 12 feet long. Its body is brown or olive with faint, darker crossbands on the back. Its underbelly is a lighter color and can have pronounced bands. (Riaz, 2021)1