CUSTOM TRUCKS, RADIO SNAKE JINGLES, AND TEMPORARY TATTOOS: AN OVERVIEW OF A SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN RELATED TO BROWN TREESNAKES IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

TL;DRAbstract

The brown treesnake (Boiga irregularis) was introduced on Guam during post World War II cargo movements. Brown treesnakes (BTS) have now become exceptionally abundant on Guam and pose a direct, significant, and growing threat to other areas outside of their historic range, including the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the State of Hawaii, the United States mainland and other sites regionally and internationally. The CNMI is at high risk for a BTS introduction due to its close proximity and the types and amount of cargo received. Limited BTS awareness efforts between 1986 and 2002 in the CNMI resulted in an average response time of 126 hours indicating that an increased awareness of appropriate response actions among the public was needed. An awareness campaign was outlined in three phases: (1) baseline public survey, (2) ten month awareness campaign, and (3) re-evaluation survey. The CNMI Division of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) staff and an outside advertising firm cre

Chat with Paper

AI Agents for this Paper