KITV (Honolulu, Hawaii) 19 April 08 Searchers Scour Kane'ohe For Snake - Jogger Spots Possible Brown Tree Snake
Kane'ohe, Hawaii: A slithery nuisance may be on the loose in Kane'ohe.
Officials with the Agriculture Department said they are searching for a brownish-greenish snake 2 feet in length. They said they think it might be a Brown tree snake.
Personnel at the Marine Corpse base in Kane'ohe said a jogger spotted the snake at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Base workers said they made an immediate search of the area but found no trace of what could be a highly invasive species.
Base workers said they called the Department of Agriculture Snake Interdiction Group. A total of 18 trained Brown tree snake investigators from the group scoured the base, but they too found nothing.
Searchers said they would be monitoring the area for the next several weeks.
Officials said they take the sighting very seriously. The Brown tree snake made its way to Guam during WWII aboard a military transport and wreaked havoc on the local bird population, and with no predators, the snake flourished.
About eight Brown tree snakes have been found on Hawaii since 1981, but the Department of Agriculture hopes to keep their population in check.
Jogger Spots Possible Brown Tree Snake