USGS personnel hold brown tree snake talk at NMIS

Northern Marianas International School students try to get a closer look at a brown tree snake held by U.S. Geological Survey biologist Mike Hogan when they visited the school Wednesday. (Jon Perez)

Personnel from the U.S. Geological Survey in Guam visited the Northern Marianas International School Wednesday and talked about the dangers posed by brown tree snakes in the CNMI’s ecosystem.

Adam Knox, the Rapid Response Team coordinator of the Brown Tree Snake project, was accompanied by biologist Mike Hogan and Maria Onni of the Division of Fish and Wildlife and they showed how to identify the brown tree snake and what to do if you encounter one.

More than 70 preschool and elementary students, their parents, and NMIS teachers and staff attended the two-hour seminar at the school cafeteria. Knox had photos of BTS in a slide show, while Hogan took out a live animal, which earned different reactions from the students.

Knox, aside from the talk at NMIS, said they are on Saipan to investigate alleged sightings of the invasive species in the CNMI. In September 2014, a live BTS was captured at the Rota Seaport fence line while there was a report that the animal was seen in Dandan early this year.

“We investigate cases and search areas if there are reported sightings, we came back to check. We haven’t found one yet and we want to make sure there are no BTS on Saipan and we want to make it that way. If there are BTS on Saipan, we want to see if it has a small or large population. We want to find it so we could control and kill it,” said Knox.

BTS can grow up to 6 feet long and can be identified with its shiny belly. They are invasive species or animals that should not be in a certain place. They usually come from other parts of the world.

“There are lots of BTS in Guam. It arrived from Guam either by boat or airplane as a stowaway. They originated from Australia and parts of Indonesia,” added Knox. “We trap them by using a mice or mouse as baits.”

Knox said BTS are successful invasive species in Guam and eat birds, chickens, frogs, geckos, or other lizards. “They are not picky eaters and they love to eat birds. Birds are important to the ecosystem because they help spread seeds to forests.”

He added that people must kill a BTS if they see one then call 28-SNAKE. “They are really hard to find since they live anywhere and they usually sleep after a meal. They could go for a month of not eating. That’s why we use K9 dogs, which are 10,000 times [more effective in smelling things than humans] and BTS has a smell.”

Knox said in Guam they put a tracking chip to one of the snakes to study where it goes and to know its hunting patterns. “They live anywhere if there are cracks, caves, and holes. They are very secretive and they lay eggs.”

NMIS vice principal Jener Pineda said they decided to invite USGS personnel when they learned that they are on Saipan. “They usually hold seminars in public schools. It’s free so we decided to invite them to raise awareness. We want our students, parents, and teachers to be informed,” Pineda said.