At 4:46 AM -0800 2/23/98, Scott Hall wrote:
>I believe that the problem goes back to the desire to erradicate a type of
>snake that was either native or accidentally introduced (I can't remember
>which). The mongoose was brought in to get rid of the snakes (which it did
>quite well). I believe that the snakes had the most damaging effect on the
>native bird population, then the mongoose did a significant amount of
>damage. Escaped or released birds probably can take some of the blame too!
> Cats were one of the lesser impacts!
>Scott

Interesting; the story I got when visiting Hawai'i was that mongoose were
brought in to control rats, another foreign import. That, of course, was a
total failure, as rats are nocturnal and mongoose are diurnal, so the
mongoose turned to goose eggs. I wouldn't think native snakes would have
been a problem for native birds; after all, they would have co-evolved,
although habitat loss could have upset the balance.

Rob Saecker
Olympia