The seminar sponsors said that the brown tree snake is said to have is said to have originated from Australia & Papua New Guinea during the big war movement in 1940’s to Guam.
The brown tree snake varies in sizes. At birth, they are approximately 1foot and can grow up to 10 feet in length. It has long slender body, brown on back, yellow on belly, no legs and with large cat like eyes and it can survive without food for a long time.During the seminar it was discussed that it was transported to other countries thru sea port, airport and even postal services.Representatives from the Division of Immigration, Division of Custom, Division of Quarantine, Chamber of Commerce, Mobil, Port Security, PCAA and PCS attended the seminar.The purpose of the seminar, is to educate the people who are working at points of entries for awareness and prevent its entry in the island. During the seminar, James Stanfor, a Rapid Response Team Coordinator for USGS, that “BTS potential prey are mostly native birds, poultry, small mammals like pets, lizards and frogs.” Some of the problems BTS can cause to our island are It could kill our native birds and mammals, cause power outage, disrupt farms and businesses, can cause health threats and most likely threat of spreading to other island. Fred Sngebau, Director of Bureau of Agriculture, there has not been any sighting in Palau, but in case there will be any in the near future, Fred Sngebau and Jeff Tewid are the qualified people to catch BTS. Please report any sightings to Division of Quarantine to Remoket Ngiriou at 777-3613.
