For the past two years there have been too few federal inspectors in Guam to check outbound military shipments for brown tree snakes hidden in cargo.

But now that federal money for the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection program has been increased, the agency expects to add enough crews by December to inspect all military cargo leaving the U.S. territory, according to the head of the program.

Inspection teams in Guam seize about 6,500 brown tree snakes a year on runways and at fences around military shipping facilities, said Mike E. Pitzler, state director for Hawai'i, Guam and the Pacific islands, at the Wildlife Services Division of the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service. The snakes have wiped out nine of the U.S. territory's 12 native species of forest birds and are blamed for millions of dollars in losses from power failures caused when the reptiles climb utility poles and short out circuits.

Wildlife experts have long feared that the snake could be accidentally shipped to Hawai'i and become established here, threatening the fragile environment.

Up until 2003, the Wildlife Services Division was checking all Department of Defense cargo out of Guam, including flights and household goods moved by ship. But the budget for the agency remained flat as operating costs increased and military activities on the island picked up.

The agency stopped replacing people who left their jobs, and its 14 canine search teams used for detecting snakes on Navy and Air Force shipments were reduced to just nine, Pitzler said.

That meant shipments have been leaving without being inspected. On average, about five to 10 aircraft leave Guam each day for what are considered "high-risk areas" such as Hawai'i, where the snakes could survive, Pitzler said. The wildlife service crews estimate that on a weekly basis, two to four aircraft leave for those high-risk locations without being checked for snakes.

Some of those aircraft are on the ground for only a short while, so there is less chance for a snake to sneak on board, but Pitzler said the planes still should be checked.

"We had one aircraft one time that, within 15 minutes of landing, a brown tree snake climbed onto the wheel area," he said. That occurred within the last six months, he said.

The budget for the Guam interdiction effort was increased by $870,000 this fiscal year to a total of $2.2 million. That money is being used to train new dog crews, and the teams should be working by December, Pitzler said.

However, it is uncertain whether that funding will continue next year, or whether the extra money will be enough to inspect outbound cargo from Guam in the years to come.

The continued growth in military activity there "just compounds the problem," he said. "If we get our canine staff to what it was prior to 2003, that's not saying that will be adequate in the next five years. We don't know."

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.