Hello Tweets:

My recollection of the cause of death of the child is incorrect. However, I
do remember than an infant was killed. The WSJ article must have been 8 or 10
years ago.

At the website:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1997-08/23/102l-082397-idx.html

is an interesting Washington Post story concerning the BTS potential in
Hawaii. It reports that there are no known snakes of any kind there
presently, except for a zoo and peoples pets. (There was a question about
this earlier on Tweeters.) This article reports that a few, 6 or 7, of the
BTS have been found in Hawaii, but there is a concern that more will come in.

A small portion of the article is as follows:

<< They now number 12,000 per square mile in some forested areas of the
Pacific island (Guam) and are eating into extinction its native bird species
and most of the nonnative birds as well.

Now officials here are worried that the brown tree snake, hiding in aircraft
cargo holds and wheel wells, may be invading Hawaii, threatening its wildlife
habitat and tourism-dependent economy. More than a third of all the threatened
and endangered birds in the United States are found in Hawaii.

A nocturnal reptile with a large head and bulging eyes, the brown tree snake
prefers birds over other prey, but it has been known to eat small pets such as
cats and has even been found curled around babies sleeping in their cribs. It
is particularly adept at climbing trees and raiding nests. It also crawls
along electrical lines and causes an average of one power outage every four
days on Guam. >>

Jim Brewster