The Risk to Hawaii from Snakes

Kraus, Fred; Cravalho, Domingo

We assessed the risk to Hawaii's native species and human quality of life posed by the introduction of alien snake species. An examination of Hawaii Department of Agriculture recoreds from 1990 to 2000 indicated hundereds of credible snake sightings in the state, mostly of free-roaming animals that were not recovered. Theses snakes arrived primarily through smuggling of pet animals, but some snakes are accidentally introduced as cargo stowaways. Most recovered specimens are of species potentially capable of inflicting substantial harm to native birds and the poultry industry if they become established. Mitigation of this threat can only be achieved by altering the human behavior leading to their widespread introduction. There are a variety of reasons why this behavior has not been successfully curtailed heretofore, and we propose a series of measures that should reduce the rate of snake introduction into Hawaii. Failure to achieve this reduction will make successful establishment of ecologically dangerous snakes in Hawaii a virtual certainty.

The Risk to Hawaii from Snakes

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