Friends of Islan Dåno (Cocos Island) Guam

Friends of Islan Dåno continues with your help! Over the past three years, volunteers have removed 39 invasive brown tree snakes from Dåno (Cocos Island), helping protect the endangered ko'ko' bird, Slevin's skink, and oceanic geckos. We have recently been awarded a grant by the National Audubon Society through our local chapter, Marianas Audubon Society, to cover our boat costs to the island so volunteers can search and eradicate invasive snakes. We are very grateful and continue to make a difference for wildlife on Dåno! If you are able to give, contributions of any amount are greatly appreciated by the volunteers and the birds!

Volunteers on January 6th, 2022 getting ready to search for snakes. We caught one that night but lost a big one that was out of our reach. Check out Farron's video of the night https://www.instagram.com/p/CYaTR_hKXW7/

We have exhausted the funding so generously provided by donors in our initial campaign, but there is still a need for volunteer boots on the ground searching and capturing snakes.  

 Volunteers made two searches in December, with boat costs paid by the volunteers who came out to search. On December 30th, we successfully caught one more snake to close out the year.

 With increasing volunteer interest in removing snakes from Dåno, Friends of Islan Dåno would like to continue our searches.

 Please consider donating to help protect endangered birds and lizards on Dåno.

End of the year capture by volunteers on December 30, 2021. This snake was spotted by Linda Tatreau and caught by the team.

Below is the call to action of our initial campaign:

My name is Olympia Terral and I am fundraising because endangered Guam birds are in trouble due to an invasive snake! We need to act quickly!

In 2010 the Ko'ko, Guam rail, was reintroduced into the wild at Islan Dåno (Cocos Island) with much celebration and hope! The sali, Micronesian starling, has had a small population on Dåno, but now those numbers appear to be in decline.

The endangered Ko'ko, Sali, and lizard populations are now at risk due to the January 2020 discovery that the brown tree snake is present on Dåno, a place that was snake free. This is the same invasive snake that caused the loss of 12 native bird species on Guam.

A group of bird-loving individuals have come together to form Friends of Islan Dåno to assist in the removal of snakes from the island. Friends of Islan Dåno need funding to cover boat costs to get out to the island and get boots on the ground to keep the island a safe haven for birds.

$3,000 will fund boat costs for two months of twice weekly snake searches and some needed equipment.

Federal and local agencies have responded to the crisis, and they welcome the assistance of the Friends of Islan Dåno and the community.

Invasive Species Are Everyone’s Responsibility!

To understand our passion, please watch this video by bird-lovers Rlene Steffy and Martin Kastner that highlights the birds on Islan Dåno.