“Could Ireland’s Ecosystem Cope if we introduced St. Patrick’s Scaly Foes?"

For my current event review, I read an article titled “Could Ireland’s Ecosystem Cope if we introduced St. Patrick’s Scaly Foes? The article essentially gave a background of how St. Patrick exterminated all snakes in Ireland. However, it takes a more interesting turn as it brings up the idea of what would happen if snakes were re-introduced into the Irish ecosystem. Experts from Trinity College in Dublin explored this idea, comparing it to the re-introduction of the New Zealand flatworm, a troubling pest for many. Collie Ennis, an associate researcher at the college, explained that “...the UK has very similar environmental conditions to ours [Ireland] and snakes fit right in.” This quote essentially is saying that although snakes are no longer present in Ireland, the climate both there and in surrounding countries would be suitable for the revival of a snake population. This would have serious consequences on the ecosystem as a whole as many animals have evolved in Ireland that would not have if snakes had not been eradicated from the island about 1,500 years ago. Ennis then moves on to explain how there have been controlled experiments where grass snakes have been let out into the wild, but in such small numbers, they were not able to establish a long term population. However, if snakes were one day able to establish a population, the effects on the economy and ecosystem would be catastrophic as the invasive species would alter the food chain and potentially damage food crops. I chose this article because I thought it was quite relevant and it is quite possible this could happen in the future, so steps must be made to prevent this from happening.