3 Sep 2012

American Samoa look to reduce mynah bird population

10:35 am on 3 September 2012

American Samoa's Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources is looking at experimenting with trapping methods to reduce the population of mynah birds in the territory.

Mynah birds are invasive species that compete with native birds for food and nesting places and are very noisy.

Representatives of the Department recently attended a workshop on controlling mynah populations in Samoa, where trappings and poison methods have been employed to reduce mynah numbers there.

Department wildlife biologist, Adam Miles, says using poison has seen the decline of the native species in Samoa but it's not being recommended as a long-term solution.

The concern with using poison in the Territory is the invasive birds will die and could fall into water systems, spreading the poison elsewhere.

He says trapping methods have worked successfully in other parts of the World and the Department will be experimenting on the best method for American Samoa.