Detector Dog Herpetofauna Inventory at Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve 2023 - Open Format Dataset

St. Croix is home to a variety of threatened and endangered (T&E) species that are at risk for predation by the invasive red-tailed boa (Boa constrictor). Genetic analysis determined the original red-tailed boa population on St. Croix sourced from a single female released by a pet owner and its range expands every year. This inventory aims to search for red-tailed boas in two focal areas that park staff are actively restoring. The park will use information from this inventory to develop a boa removal program and protect sensitive native species. Snakes are cryptic species, often occurring in low density, and utilize complex habitat patterns. To increase the likelihood of detecting red-tailed boa, the Maryland/Delaware/D.C. Wildlife Services detector dog handling team partnered with the USDA-APHIS National Detector Dog Training Center to train and develop detector dogs to assist in determining the presence/absence of red-tailed boa for this project. Two dog detector teams traveled to Salt River Bay National Park (SARI) in St. Croix to conduct surveys for red-tailed boa in habitats likely to contain red-tailed boa in June 2023. Each transect was surveyed by one dog team. The canine teams had no red-tailed boa detections within SARI. Given the proximity of confirmed detections to SARI, it is likely red-tailed boa will be in the park in the future, if they are not already. Additional surveys, whether by humans, canines, or both, are recommended in areas of the park that have not been previously surveyed.

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  "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2305285"
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