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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- Brown tree snakes are taking over Guam - in fact, they outnumber humans on the island 10 to 1, and they've taken a major toll on its ecosystem. The problem now has the U.S. government on the offensive, enlisting multiple government agencies, including the Department of Defense, to eradicate the invasive reptiles.
Since brown tree snakes are nocturnal, hunting them takes place at night. Both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey deploy groups of researchers to monitor traps and catch the snakes by hand. Catching them is a tedious process, but it's crucial that the snakes be studied, and tracked, in order to develop effective control methods.
Brown tree snakes have been a problem for the U.S. territory of Guam since the 1950s, when they were introduced there, most likely from a military vessel coming back to port from a neighboring island. But it's gotten to the level of forcing government action - to kill them, or at least keep them from getting off the island and causing the same problem somewhere else.
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Brown tree snakes are taking over Guam - in fact, they outnumber humans on the island 10 to 1, and they've taken a major toll on its ecosystem.
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Hey VICE! I think I came up with a solution to get rid of all the snake. There are a few animals that eat them.
Three step plan
Step one: collect a lot of eagles, hawks, honey badger or the best option, mangoose.
Step two: neuter or spay any and all of these predators before step three, so steps one and three don't backfire.
Step three: release hundreds of these onto the island.
Step four: ..... profit???
with the plan like that your asking for another disaster. they said that native birds are slowly disappearing. eagles and hawks do hunt other birds. its not the best way to get rid of the snake but to introduce another problem that will affect the islands native species.
Lol 2 million snakes. what a load of bs.
VICE News I’m from Guam spread more for us so one of my favorite bird on my island will once come back
VICE News so sheep are over taking new zealand?
I taught school on Guam for seven years. One of my students came to class with cuts all over his nose. I asked what happened to him and he said a brown tree snake was in his bed and bit him on his nose. I found one in the soda machine change slot. The snakes would always climb up the power lines and short out the transformers and cause power outages.
What school did you teach at?
*Did the Snake, at Least DIE, when it was ELectrocuted!!???*
I remember that would happen a lot, the power outages. "Did we pay for the power?" "Yes; It was the snakes again."
Those snakes are basically being abducted by aliens and having a probe inserted.
butharat it’s okay, none of the other snakes will believe them.
Lmaooo 😂😂😂
It happens to us but we dont even know its happened aswell. Humans are mere puppets
Makes sense. Humans are the very definition of an invasive species. I can imagine an alien race trying to eradicate humanity in order to save the rest of the earth.
Lauren Told Some say there are snakes wriggling about with little leaf hats on, just in case.
3:00 that snake is high as a fucking kite
This is the best thing I have seen all day.
Kapteeni Hai 😂😂😂😂
That snake was higher than eagle feet 🦅
Next thing ya know he b laying on tha ground burnt tf out
omg i actually laughed out loud becuase i saw the comment first then watched it.
Didn’t know all the old homies had moved to Guam
Giovanni Torres 😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Lol
ZING
KD gonna move to Guam soon to be with his kind
Damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn son
that snaked is high as a kite
tubepunksheep I know!!Lol,his eyes were like someone at a great party!!
This is sad to me. I lived on Guam 50 years ago 1969-1971. I never saw one at that time, and I remember a lot of birds still inhabited the island.
Lol I live here And this is such fake news.
AaronP11 I don’t know. I lived there 50 years ago when I was a teenager. I remember a seeing a number of birds in 1970, and Shrews too. I plan on making a return “Bucket List” trip in the next two years to see Guam again. I have a lot of good memories of it and would like to see it once again in my life.
@@jonathanhansen3709 yeahh, the only birds i see here now are pidgeons, common sparrow, doves of some kind, sea birds. my dad told me about when he used to go to the jungle and it was just filled with bird sounds. we went to that same jungle and its silent. we hear shrews in our front yard bushes though.
Can't believe I just saw a snake's Hemipenis express.
Same here. It's time for me to reconsider how I am spending my time.
Reagan L. SAME
learning the word 'hemipenis' is worth the few minutes of watching the video.
@@reaganlear6548 hahahaha
@Real Newsforever Well, isn't that special.
so basically all these snakes are related lol
Snake family reunion:
*Penny:* YO! Wassup Paul?!
*Paul:* SHUT UP PENNY
*Penny:* Yeah... classic in-laws
*Matt:* Let's find some brown trees now
eardey ohnson Lmaooooo
😂😂
Guam got Alabama problem
Alabama 100
bruh fr, I used to live on Guam and have only seen 2 of these damn snakes of the 2 years I lived there
"small incision: cuts open half the snak3
wasn’t even close to a quarter of the length
I was on Guam 2000-2006. Back then, they put trackers on a bunch of Guam Rails, its a bird. When they stopped moving they would go out and check it out. Amazingly, they were all eaten, not by snakes, but by feral cats.
Honestly makes sense
Vice finds the absolute most interesting stories to report on. Thank you.
I grew up in Guam. I remember a local car dealership offering a free car to anyone who came in with the most snakes.
Chix Guam.
Shout out to VICE for visiting our island thank you!
In 1972 a snake wrapped itself around my forearm. I was living in Agana Heights near the airport, one night while placing key in door the snake had dropped on me from porch roof I grabbed it and tossed it, no one I told would believe me as there were no snakes on Guam. I love Guam and I can't help but to feel terrible, for at that time the island had a huge bird population and no one had ever seen a snake.
Atleast you don't have to worry about rats???
Edit he just said they eat cats eradicate them
Sophia June rats don’t ruin the entire balance of nature
or have mr. Kim nuke them
No way they kill cats, click on the link to watch my cat Milly destroy a brown tree snake after she found in my vacuum cleaner
th-cam.com/video/ZBTMnW7jBXQ/w-d-xo.html
😂😂😂😂
I LIVE ON GUAM 🇬🇺 AND NOW I AM FREAKED OUT
like if you love Guam or want to save Guam
Chica, it's not a big issue I live there as a native and only saw them once. Guam is not in danger, however, our species of animals are because people from outside imported them in without proper checking of their products🤦♀️
Well, I would certainly watch my toddler...snake not a threat to most adults, not so sure about children.
honestly, ive never had an experience with snakes in my house. ive come close to some but like, just grab a long stick, pick it up, and toss it where youre not walking...
Hey someone I know from Guam😂😂 but yeah I haven't seen a snake in like 3 years so I don't know if this video is actually that necessary. I mean after the snakes are gone we can re populate the birds
Whenever I watch snake things, I feel like something keeps poking me in different places around my body.
Omg me too!!!!!!
Fr
Brown tree snakes have come to Hawaii via airplanes. They are horrible predators.
Nadya Rossi wait are you serious
Nadya Rossi - We don’t have a snake problem in Hawaii. What island you talking bout? The damn mongooses are a bigger problem here
Hes taking about the people on the airplane
Nadya Rossi , what are you talking about? We do not have a snake problem here
Lmao everyone chill, Nadya is saying that tourists are going to Hawaii, not actual snakes 😂
Thank you for what you do, providing data through studies, will only benefit the eradication process. Perhaps, not as quickly as some would want, however, it is a process. It is truly sad that yourselves, as all my children, did not experience the same opportunity as I, growing up to witness and enjoy the beauty of Guam's, bird population.
They need to have a snake whacking day like in the simpsons
I would fly out there to participate that sounds like fun.
Replace beat up the irish day. Over my dead body.
I was station on Guam in the early 1980s, I can only remember seeing one tree snake. Shame how destructive invasive species can be to the natural environment.
I didn't realize Kevin Durant and his fans moved to Guam.
Funny
John-Paul Harley lmao
John-Paul Harley LeBron James & Miami Heat fans were there first. Funny how people always forget that.
I’m watching him in the game 3 of the finals and can hear his slither thru the damn tv
I'm from guam and also hate KD
My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated with snakes that it will tip over and capsize.
That’s actually happening. The snakes have reached their maximum capacity and because they wiped out all the birds, they have no prey left. They’re eating their way to extinction on the island.
I understood that reference.
I live on Guam and there is a brown snake in my toilet almost everyday...when I'm regular....
That's hard to believe.
@@tropicshade Wouldn't be the first health crisis you found hard to believe, eh?
That snake is going to go back home and all of his buddies are going to be like damn man they got you man... they gave him the Wolverine transplant
3:01 that derpy snek face is priceless
I keep going back to this second and laughing my ass off.
this is EXACTLY what alien abductees felt like lol
release some honey badger there they will take care of them.
NAHH, then there goes the bee populations
they are arboreal. ..
Steven Preston honey badger is not a bee but an animal that feeds on snakes.
honey badgers feed on the hives of bees aswell.
that's true.
2:55 * snakes being upside-down after inhaling anesthesia *
looks dead to me
I was on Guam back in the 70's and never noticed birds or snakes. I was too bust playing in the ocean or swimming in Marlboro Cave.
I could imagine over population of snakes in that island, I could not help thinking crawling in residential areas.
shortly after the end of WW II we moved to Guam. Being fourteen years old I would spend time away from school running about on the island. We, friends about the same age, and I found several interesting discoveries. One. we did find a small snake, about the size of a large earth worm. With Eyes and a small toungh. My mother had a fit and I lost it in the couch. Afterwards we looked and found several other similar sized snakes. Also one of the discoveries was tombs, burial sites, containing skeletons of humans ( not Japanese or American combat dead.) We measured those we found and the skeletons were over seven feet long, or maybe vertically standing humans of seven feet plus feet. More than once we found a still smoldering camp fire , possibably a Japanese soldier still on the island. There were snakes on the island , just really small creatures and lots of birds and fruit bat.
Vice: snakes are taking over Guam.
Also Vice: let’s go there to get bitten
When he said 1-2 million snakes my big brain comprehended it as 1 snake to 2 million snakes on the island
Coming up through the toilet. Ffs, just delete Guam.
Yeah, if I ever experienced that I would be okay with Kim doing whatever he wants with the island
Go ahead please Mr. Kim.
butharat Omg I use to have nightmares about snakes coming up out of the toilet.... I was terrified & had to go see a Dr wow!!!
🖕🏻
I live on Guam, my family lives on Guam, thousands of military servicemen and women live on Guam including their families. GTFO
Wait why was the little snake surgery the cutest thing ever😭😍😍😍
The brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis) is an arboreal rear-fanged colubrid snake native to eastern and northern coastal Australia, eastern Indonesia (Sulawesi to Papua), Papua New Guinea, and a large number of islands in northwestern Melanesia.
This snake is infamous for being an invasive species responsible for extirpating the majority of the native bird population in Guam.
It is also one of the very few colubrids found in Australia, where elapids are more common.
are brown tree snakes in guam poisonous?
@@luisrosero5358I know this is old, but no they are not poisonous, they are venomous.
Not a word from a native Chamorro - Great reporting!
“Guamian” 😂😂😂
I am a Guamanian, living here in Guahan and I call bullcrap. Yes, there are snakes, yes we lost some bird populations because of them, no, they aren't that numerous, no they arent that dangerous, no, they're not poisonous, you occasionally find one looking for warmth in the house, you see em as roadkill. If you live in a shack in the jungle, you'll find more than if you live in the city. I have never seen a video of Guam that is actually real Guahan.
@@connierosario9474 “I have never seen a video of guam that is actually Guahan.” I agree with you fully! I found it particularly comedic with the new Netflix series “Christmas drop”. Really portrays guam as a bases for the plot about America coming in and saving the day, giving the locals food, clothing etc...
@@Hagakure670 what was super comedic was those ghost hunters that got pinched by the dokdok in Tumon.
@@connierosario9474 if you remembered one of them makes a comment “I didn’t know our show aired out here” 😂💀
that tiny little snake can eat a bird?! I thought most birds can eat snakes.
They grow significantly bigger than that baby
I'm sorry, but I don't understand ur question
Fishing Rod oh hellz yeah, it's heartbreaking to watch
They eat the eggs and the babies.
Theres no way that thing can eat a full sized chicken. Thats what buddy said in the beginning. No fucking way that snake is eating a chicken. A chicken would kill that snake if its not greatly effected by the venom. The snake could definitely eat chicks but not a full grown chicken.
Thank you for helping our island
This damn snake got me freaked out 2 days ago, crawling around on the passenger side window.
Thats what aliens do to us when we get kidnapped. Terrifying.
I have seen two tree snakes in the past three years living on Guam. I have been in the jungle over many weekends. I see way more snakes in NC. The reason there are no birds is because decades ago the military covered the island with DET
Wouldn't doubt DET did it.
I live on Guam. I have never personally had a close encounter with one of these snakes, but my neighbor has found one in her toilet and baby’s nursery.
I like the respect for the snake being shown here. Yes, they're trying to kill it, but it's not being tortured or anything.
Simple solution: bring in mongooses.
@Emil Ramos
_Mongoose arent that much of a pest. Unless youre a farmer_
@@Discontinuedalready7372 most people are farmers. So mongooses are not good.
Just make sure you have a cat or a scary chicken
@Emil Ramos the mongoose would probably end up killer not all the native birds and lizards
Bringing in one invasive species to destroy another is very dangerous.
@@24tommyst very true, they introduced mongoose to Hawaii to control rats and the mongoose ended up going after native birds instead
At least they're not horribly venomous like on snake island, could you imagine if those started to take over?
The biologist is such a badass
Do you want to be like him when you grow up?
Haha
People generally hate messengers when they deliver inconvenient messages.
Just let loose ten pairs of mongoose and the rest is HISSStory for any snakes.
When he said that snakes come up through the toilet, I took Guam off the list of places that I want to sail to.
Yeah you wouldn't want that
@@NitishKumar-jm7ec Any snake emerging from a toilet is prone to strike the first thing that he sees dangling and none of us wants that.
@@pforce9 doze nuts
It rarely happens.. It's not that bad here.
Ummm. I havr never seen that happen Nor heard of any of my friends or relatives experiencing that. THIS is really over exaggerating. Yes. Its a problem, but not so scary as they make it seem.
I'm going to remove this snake, to the recovery area now that we have installed a wide screen TV in the spine
St. Patrick got rid of snakes, Guam should give the dude a call!
The island is 90% Catholic so, yeh, they should pray to St. Patrick. Hahaha.
Mr Raccoon #MaywenSuckett is gone(+) StPatrick😞
St. Patrick has more pressing matters in Ireland.
selling to Chinese! actually, snake meat is good, as long as you cook it well.
Im from guam. We are asked why dont you guys eat the snake. My reply no meat. They are to skinny.
Colin Yuan I like snake skin grilled, very crispy and tasty with a dash of salt.
Colin Yuan eeww gross!! 😷😷🤢 That's just disgusting, we don't eat snake!
If the head is removed is the remainkking snake body safe or is there poison in it's guts or else where. IE how to best make a snake safe for the dinner table? TY.
Guam is on top of the abyss!!! I am not surprised!
Guam's still kickin'. I thought it was going to tip over according to their congressman Hank Johnson.
Snakes are keeping it from capsizing.
4:15 he was blowing that shit like it was a balloon
Is Hank Johnson worried that these snakes will cause Guam to tip over?
what do you mean? This islands already tipped over from Invasive snakes.
and it's the reckless U.S. military and shipment containers they brought with them to blame for the destruction and extinction on the islands natural habitat.
3:06 when you tired af.
What about adding a spotted king snake to the mix? They eat other snakes, and are good at it.
Adding another snake will not solve the problem. King snakes eat the same animals as every other snake, while they will eat other snakes, they will also eat the other small native species on the island
He said "yoink" when he plucked it from the tree! Hahaha
Time to hit up St.Patrick
On Guam we like to call them noodles to make it less terrifying so we say "the noodles are taking over Guam.
poor snakey boi, he's just trying to live his best life
Sitting on the toilet and having one latch on to the crotch will have you singing a different song immediately.
Thanks Vice news.. I'm from mangilao Guam..
I know where I'll never visit😋
I lived there for 18 months and never saw a snake, stay out of the jungle and you will be fine.
you'll see those fucking spiders wherever you step though. they're harmless but huge.
I’ve only seen dead ones here on roads
lol been livin here for 16 years n have barely seen any snakes
Sand mtzmdz there’s not snakes everywhere
When Guam capsizes the snakes will just swim to another house
They should worry about the tons, tons of garbage (old appliances, car batteries , tires, household trash) that litter the jungle lined roads and abandoned cars before they worry about the snakes. YES TONS OF GARBAGE all over the island. Mountains of it!
Yes, I was on Guam for military training and I felt like I needed a tetanus shot after a hike. There was tons of metal waste along the trails, the rivers and as you described the heaps of garbage along the roads. This was four months ago.
Roger that battle. It's pretty fucked up how the this beautiful island is trashed like that. The parks and beach areas don't even have trash cans so, people leave all their cans and bottles, picnick trash one the side of the beaches.
I'm in Guam watching this and laughing. Those snakes they have in the lab are babies! I'd laugh if mama came in, they'll see a real snake lol
That probe is not small!!! It's the equivalent size of a tablet PC shoved into my chest.
Who cares?
Thats the lucky one the others are getting eradicated
that's has thick has the snake
Trey Thornton-Griggs I thought you were going you say rear end instead of chest.
But hey at least the laptop will only be 5% of your weight
Those snakes in the grass are really snaking it
snek
He went looking for deadly🐍 snakes in the wild at NIGHT
ME: couldn't have picked a better time
Just introduce about a hundred mongoose.
You can’t beat Snake. He’ll destroy every Wooden Gear there is...
I lived on Guam from Jun 2017 to October 2017 4 months exactly, and I never saw a single one of these guys. They keep to themselves and they hide in the trees. Theyre really not that big of a pest; honestly I had more problems with roaches in LA and ATL.
its not as much a problem to the people as it is to the natural species there and environment
Dimitri Navrides THANK you for That Clarification!!👌😊👏🏻👏🏻
You living in Guam for 4 months >>> Ecologists & journalists
Its a shame they're beautiful snakes and seem pretty chill, id have some as pets.
Wow.. that shows how fast eco systems can change with the destruction of even a few native species..
I live on Guam my entire life. Think I have only seen a snake like twice in my life. I also have never heard of a brown tree snake eating cats. Just saying
When I was younger, there was an abundance of Birds roaming Guam. I remember taking a photo with a long beak bird that happened to be an endangered species. Well, yes the snakes are one of the problems why they disappearing. 2ndly, people in Guam like to shoot birds for fun. I am guilty and I didn't know better when I was 10 yrs old.
Over two million snakes yet he has to go searching for the snake.
Yah
I felt kind of bad for that poor snake when he went into surgery.
Over here in Ireland we have no snakes since we started wacking day.
Good you should! It is a healthy reaction!
Tap Strider ikr
Tap Strider i feel bad for the people that had a snake in the toilet
+Amber Mitchell - You say that as if it's the snakes fault for what they've done. They're just doing what they need to do to survive.
These snakes were brought over by PEOPLE shortly after WWII. The snakes aren't to blame and they really shouldn't be punished for it, but there's no other way. Gotta love humanity.
The snake during surgery is like O.O
I love the way isobel narrating it
time to make myself a snakeskin wallet
These snakes aren't shit. Look at the snakes they find in the Florida Everglades. Pythons that grow to be 15 feet long!
Unfriend Me its not the snake olympics, they are just a problem for us on guam
@Core Cheng, why don't you all pick up that trash all over the island? What a shame, kind of telling the kind of people that live among that trash.
www.guampdn.com/story/opinion/2018/02/09/letter-public-officials-ignoring-illegal-dumping/314169002/
@E P Ramos, yep, its ALL OVER the island. ALL OVER.
Both wipe out other species...I wonder if Python is good eating ?
Just use the infinity gauntlet and no problem 🤣
lmao 1:32 "yoink"
through I was the only one to hear that
Daniel R why would you be the only one? styoobid
4:08 when you are out of crack and start to smoke a snake
Hurry call St. Patrick
3:03 Snake: Holy Smokes 💨
In Jamaica, my home , they eradicated the snake in the early1900s by introducing the mongoose...now a days you'll never see a snake in jamaica anywhere
If it's that simple why don't they do it?
@@radrook4481 sometimes it is that simple...it didnt happen overnight..it took decades and chance...the mongoose is the natural predator.
@@ijg8343 So why did they reject that solution?
@@radrook4481 😂😂🤣I dont have the answers bro lol...politics maybe....didn't you hear the name of that Korean dictator lol ....how the hell did Donald trump win the presidency?? Lol we will never know..
@@radrook4481 I just know in my parents home country the mongoose solved the issue..........
Indian gray mongoose and others are well known for their ability to fight and kill venomous snakes, particularly cobras. They are adept at such tasks due to their agility, thick coats, and specialized acetylcholine receptors that render them resistant or immune to snake venom. Add 1000s of them over there and keep the process going for years, i think it's an easy solution.
Imagine taking a shit and that little snake comes up biting your arse...
Time to blow up the island
the small transmitter is about as wide as the snake's body, holy shit!
I know right? ?
Snake surgery. What a strange corner of the internet
We want to get rid of the snakes so we catch them and release them back into the same place. SMH..
I was stationed at Andersen AFB between 1980 to 1982. Even then they were a topic of conversation. Mostly power outages and the danger to babies and very small children. I never saw one, but I did see mosquitos and booney bees.
Huh. I was there in 2016 and never saw a single one
Steven Shelp Thank You My Friend, 2mill is A large Overstatement !!.. Perhaps I see A Dead one At least Once A Year, once Every couple of years... They are more invasive in Wildlife Un inhabitant areas of the Jungles... once in a blue moon They pop up in domestic areas, but Not Consistently! ..I love The Media with how they been Marking GUAM as Snake Infested for Years... omg .. Australia and Florida have more snakes found in their Living quarters than we ever Have.🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
They are nocturnal & aborial.
They are all in some ladies toilet apparently!
In 1994 I wrote a letter to Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper on how to eradicate the brown tree snake....import owls. I was told that importing owls would upset the ecological balance. LOL