It Will Soon Rain Toxic Mice In Guam

You've heard of raining cats and dogs before, but that's just a saying. Raining toxic mice, however, is NOT. Believe it or not, the U.S. Military will soon be raining hoards of toxic mice in Guam.

Yea. It's true! This isn't some science fiction story.

Mice 'laced' with painkillers will be dropped on Guam's canopy, a date in either April or May is still TBA.

The reason behind dropping these toxic rodents: An over-population of the Brown Tree Snake. The snake's population is devastating a broad range of species of birds. In fact, MOST of Guam's native bird species are entirely extinct now because of the Brown Tree Snake.

In a Yahoo! article, Assist. Vice Director of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's Wildlife Services is Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific Islands, David Vice, said:

"We are taking this to a new phase. There really is no other place in the world with a snake problem like Guam."

A new phase, that seems risky. However, this strategy has actually been in the making for almost 10 years.

The plan is to drop 'neonatal mice' from helicopters, one-by-one by hand and to ensure

they stick up to the jungle's canopy, scientist have developed a

'flotation device' that also has streamers attached to get caught up in the tree.

The ingenious part of this plan is that the Brown Tree Snake is a bit careless when it comes to meal time. They have no problem eating prey that they did not kill themselves. (Hence, the use of neonatal mice. The snakes will still eat them, but the mice won't run around and repopulate).

Another stroke of brilliance to this plan, I'm sure you've been wondering, is WHAT the mice are toxic with. The Brown Tree Snake is actually extremely vulnerable to acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol.

The plan isn't to wipe out the population of snakes, but only to control and contain it. It's weird news, almost science fiction, even, but true! Plus this makes for a great current events story to share around the water cooler.

So what do you think? Is there anything we're missing as far as risks? Or do you think this is a pretty good plan?