Mice in parachutes battle Guam's brown tree snakes Thousands of mice are being dropped from the sky over Guam in an effort to kill off an invasive tree snake. Guam has enlisted unlikely soldiers in its battle against an invasive breed of snake: 2000 mice, each dropped by cardboard parachute over the small Pacific Island. The mice, dead and pumped full of painkillers, were sent down over the Anderson Air Force Base in the US territory in the latest effort to eradicate the brown tree snake, an introduced species responsible for millions of dollars in wildlife and commercial losses, according to KUAM News. The snakes, which arrived in Guam sometime in the 1950s, have already managed to survive traps, snake-sniffing dogs and snake-hunting inspectors - all seeking to stop the snakes from eating native birds and causing costly power outages at the base by slithering into electric substations. But the government now thinks it may be able to control the infestation by taking advantage of the snakes" unique sensitivity to a pain reliever called acetaminophen - delivered via tasty mice. According US Department of Agriculture official Dan Viceto, low-flying helicopters hover over the base's forested area and drop their furry payloads on a timed sequence. Each mouse is laced with a microdose of the killer drug and strung up to two pieces of cardboard and green tissue paper. "The cardboard is heavier than the tissue paper and opens up in an inverted horseshoe," Mr Viceto. It then floats down and ultimately hangs up in the forest canopy. Once it's hung in the forest canopy, snakes have an opportunity to consume the bait. Some of the mice are even fitted with tiny data-transmitting radios to chart how effective the air attack has been.