Whatever Happened To...
An update on past news
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Search teams have not found scale nor tail of snake spotted in Kaneohe
Question: What ever happened to the snake that was spotted in April on Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kaneohe?
Answer: Teams from the state Department of Agriculture and the Marines searched for three weeks for a possible brown tree snake, according to Agriculture Department spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi.
The snake, however, was never trapped and has not been seen since the initial sighting April 16, Saneishi said.
There has been no other evidence of it, she said, but noted it is "a large area with a lot of brush."
The crews set traps with mice and searched at night but came up with nothing.
A base resident reported seeing a 2-foot greenish-brown snake at 7:30 a.m. April 16.
Judging from the description, agriculture officials suspected it might have been a brown tree snake. The native bird population on Guam has been ravaged by the snake, and officials in Hawaii fear the reptile will get established here.
However, the woman who reported seeing the snake in Kaneohe only saw the "tail end of it" and not the head, so there was no way to confirm its species, Saneishi said.
Base spokesman Lt. Binford Strickland said the snake was spotted in the Kansas Tower Hill area, on the northwestern part of the peninsula, quite a distance from the wildlife management area.
The brown tree snake has wiped out nine of the 12 native forest birds and two of 11 native lizards on Guam and contributed to the native fruit bat's decline. It is also responsible for an average of 200 power failures there every year, and snakebites account for one of every 1,200 emergency room visits in Guam.
This update was written by Leila Fujimori. Ever wonder what happened to a person, event or issue that has been in the news? We'll find out for you if you e-mail us at
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