US dropped 2,000 paracetamol mice on Guam to kill 3M invasive snakes in $8M operation

Wars are no longer just between humans, they are also against invasive predators that completely destroy ecosystems. In order to tackle one such enemy, a tropical island once waged an audacious chemical war to save its forests.Shortly after World War II and before 1952, brown tree snakes reached Guam from the Solomon Islands, hidden in ship cargo. The brown tree snake is an arboreal species native to Australia, Papua New Guinea, and several Pacific islands. The snake preys on birds, lizards, bats, and small mammals.A US Geological Survey synopsis of the invasion described what followed with admirable bluntness. Prey was abundant, predators were absent, and the snakes multiplied to numbers never seen before. The fallout included thousands of power outages, the loss of pets and domestic birds, and considerable distress for residents who kept finding snakes inside their homes.