State May Get Snake-Sniffing Dogs Again
HONOLULU — Hawaii is at-risk from the damaging brown tree snake from Guam.
There are no highly trained detector dogs searching for the invasive species, which has decimated bird and animal populations in Guam.
Guam has 15,000 snakes per square mile. The snakes have eaten a lot of the birds, frogs and small pets, said Rep. Barbara Marumoto.
Detection dogs kept the snakes out of Hawaii, but budget cuts put the program in the doghouse back in 2009.
We lost them at that time, said Carol Okada, with the Department. of Agriculture.
Without the super-sniffers, snakes can sneak into the islands on a plane or a ship from Guam.
This is a major, major threat to Hawaii, said Okada.
Because Hawaii doesnt have any snakes in the wild, the islands also dont have any predators to keep the snakes in check.
They could really devastate our poultry industry, egg industry and electrical supply because they get into transformers and create short-circuits, said Marumoto.
Because of the threat, Marumoto will introduce legislation this upcoming session to fund three detection dogs again.
The canines could not only sniff out brown tree snakes, they can also be trained to target other invasive species or banned aquatic life.
During the time without the dogs, Hawaii has seen a swarm of illegal animals arriving in the islands.
Weve been finding a lot more snake occurrences, a lot more people with unwanted pets. Those who deal with the illegal pet trade have taken advantage of our lessened resources, said Okada.
Okada hopes the detection dog program will start up this year because flights from Guam are expected to increase as military operations expand.
The federal government has already set aside a $300,000 grant for the brown tree snake detection dogs, but the state needs additional funding to stop other invasive species from getting in.
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