Chapter 1163 Snakes (2/2)

If the island became well developed, perhaps it could rile up the interest in island trading again. After all, the last financial and mortgage crises had happened over ten years ago. The rich might now be more willing to purchase islands again.

The greatest problem on Seagull Island was that there were numerous sea snakes around it. Of course, this disadvantage was offset by the huge amount of opal on the island.

Li Du disliked snakes. He did not wish to spend a huge sum to buy an island and even more money to develop it to realize that there were snakes all over the island.

Australia valued the environment, and economic developments were to be coupled with environmental consciousness.

However, Seagull Island was at a great distance from the mainland and Tasmania. There were few people around. Hardly anyone would take notice of the island, and Li Du knew that the government would not protest if he were to relocate the snakes.

In terms of the snake problem, the Tasmanian government was willing to provide support. That was because they were worried that Li Du would mercilessly kill the snakes to get rid of them.

Snakes were common in all parts of Australia. As the continent's inhabitants had been battling snakes for hundreds of years, they were experienced and had many ways to deal with the reptiles.

The Tasmanian government had arranged for the Animal Bureau and the Reptile Protection Association to help Li Du banish the sea snake colony through biological and acoustic methods.

The biological method consisted of planting Ramie plants all over the island. The sea snakes hated the smell of those plants and would presumably leave.

The acoustic method was to select some locations on the island to install sound wave makers. Snakes were far more sensitive to sound waves than humans were. The sound wave makers could continuously emit sound waves that would be unnoticed by humans but intolerable to snakes, driving the latter away.

There was also another method, which involved soaking bird eggs in a hormone solution. Sea snakes consumed food in a single swallow. Hence, a research institute in Australia had invented the method to deal with vipers.

The bird's egg would be soaked in liquid, which would not be poisonous but simply a drug solution rich in progesterone and androgen. Once the snake swallowed it, it would lose its ability to reproduce.

That was a key method that the Australian government had been advocating to deal with snakes. However, the Animal Protection Bureau and the conservationists criticized it severely.

The drug worked upon the principle of dealing with female snakes. It would cause female snakes to lose the desire to mate by inhibiting ovulation and changing the mucus of the snake gonads.

Even if the snakes mated, due to a large amount of progesterone that remained in their bodies, the blastocyst would not be able to survive. The hormones could change the way the female snake's fallopian tubes functioned, hindering the delivery of fertilized eggs. That method was very powerful and could kill an entire region of snakes so that they might become extinct.

Some organizations had found those methods cruel and criticized the government. As nobody cared about Li Du's island, however, he was free to engage in those methods.

Li Du brought people over to Seagull Island on the yacht. Following behind the yacht was a huge cargo ship that ferried construction equipment and instruments for capturing the local snakes.

After the purchase of Seagull Island went through, Li Du rang up Steve. After all, Steve had supported him greatly through the entire process.

A lady with a gentle voice picked up the phone and said, ”Mr. Tussenberg has left America. If there's anything you wish to convey, please leave me a message and I will take care to pass it on.”

Li Du was vexed as he did not know where Steve had gone. In any case, he did not have any urgent matters to discuss, so he hung up after leaving his name with the secretary.

Just as the group arrived at the newly bought island, the satellite phone on the yacht rang. It was Steve, and he shocked Li Du with his words. ”Hey Li, I'm in Antarctica…”