Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
We have heard of airdrops of humanitarian aid, weapons and leaflets, but dead mice? Yup! In 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service organized an airdrop of thousands of dead mice laced with acetaminophen (Tylenol) on the island of Guam. The goal was to kill the brown tree snakes that were causing severe ecological and economic damage by eating native bird species and small mammals. The reptiles are also adept at climbing power poles and electrical wires resulting in blackouts. The mildly venomous snakes are generally a few feet (1 meter) long but can grow to be more than 10 feet (3 meters) in length. They have been known to bite children.
Dead mice were chosen as the anti-snake weapon. They were injected with acetaminophen which curiously is toxic to snakes but relatively safe for other wildlife in small amounts. The mice were attached to small parachutes made from cardboard and tissue paper to ensure they got caught in the trees, where brown tree snakes tend to hunt.
The snakes (Boiga irregularis) were accidentally introduced to Guam, likely as stowaways in military cargo shipments from the South Pacific, particularly from the Solomon Islands, during or shortly after World War II. Native to Australia, Papua New Guinea and surrounding islands, the snakes found an environment in Guam with abundant prey and no natural predators, allowing their population to explode. There was also concern that the snakes would spread to Hawaii. The possibility of snakes on a plane terrified Hawaiians.
The proliferation of the snakes prompted scientists at the USDA’s National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) to search for a snake-specific poison. They tested various compounds, including pesticides and common pharmaceuticals, trying to find one that was lethal to the snakes but had minimal risk to other wildlife. The winner was acetaminophen! Even small amounts (about 80 mg per snake) were lethal within hours of consuming treated bait. It turns out that brown tree snakes lack the necessary enzymes to detoxify acetaminophen. After proving effective in lab studies, scientists tested acetaminophen-laced baits in controlled outdoor environments and when that proved successful they decided on the mousedrop. The solution to this snake headache, fittingly enough, turned out to be acetaminophen, a drug commonly used to treat human headaches.
We have heard of airdrops of humanitarian aid, weapons and leaflets, but dead mice? Yup! In 2013, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service organized an airdrop of thousands of dead mice laced with acetaminophen (Tylenol) on the island of Guam. The goal was to kill the brown tree snakes that were causing severe ecological and economic damage by eating native bird species and small mammals. The reptiles are also adept at climbing power poles and electrical wires resulting in blackouts. The mildly venomous snakes are generally a few feet (1 meter) long but can grow to be more than 10 feet (3 meters) in length. They have been known to bite children.
Dead mice were chosen as the anti-snake weapon. They were injected with acetaminophen which curiously is toxic to snakes but relatively safe for other wildlife in small amounts. The mice were attached to small parachutes made from cardboard and tissue paper to ensure they got caught in the trees, where brown tree snakes tend to hunt.
The snakes (Boiga irregularis) were accidentally introduced to Guam, likely as stowaways in military cargo shipments from the South Pacific, particularly from the Solomon Islands, during or shortly after World War II. Native to Australia, Papua New Guinea and surrounding islands, the snakes found an environment in Guam with abundant prey and no natural predators, allowing their population to explode. There was also concern that the snakes would spread to Hawaii. The possibility of snakes on a plane terrified Hawaiians.
The proliferation of the snakes prompted scientists at the USDA’s National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) to search for a snake-specific poison. They tested various compounds, including pesticides and common pharmaceuticals, trying to find one that was lethal to the snakes but had minimal risk to other wildlife. The winner was acetaminophen! Even small amounts (about 80 mg per snake) were lethal within hours of consuming treated bait. It turns out that brown tree snakes lack the necessary enzymes to detoxify acetaminophen. After proving effective in lab studies, scientists tested acetaminophen-laced baits in controlled outdoor environments and when that proved successful they decided on the mousedrop. The solution to this snake headache, fittingly enough, turned out to be acetaminophen, a drug commonly used to treat human headaches.
