The only endemic mammals in Hawaii are the Hoary Bat and the Monk
Seal, all others have been introduced either accidentally or on purpose—
many as a hunting “resource”.
The Polynesians who settled Hawaii brought their small pigs with them.
Post contact —Captain Cook’s landing on the Big island in 1798—European
pigs were imported and interbred with the Polynesian pigs, resulting in
large, intelligent, fleet animals who were later joined by Axis Deer,
Mouflon Sheep, feral goats, peafowl, pheasants and many other “game”
birds.
The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii (TNCH) manages over 200,000 acres in
Hawaii, on several islands. These properties are managed in partnership
with the State DLNR, the University of Hawaii, and various other
federal, state, and county agencies (1)
We do know that TNCH deploys snares throughout Hawaii. They never check
them, callously causing intense suffering for the trapped animals. TNCH
and their partners argue that the snares are just one “tool” and that
they are used only in remote, steep areas; however, on Christmas Day,
2006, in the woods close to a friend’s home, a sow who had been
suffering at least 2 days, was found in a wire neck snare. She was
released from her agony by gunshot. This was neither a remote nor
difficult area to access. The enviros (meaning environmental Nazis, the
usual suspects: TNC, Sierra Club, Audubon, etc.) have lobbied here to
use toxicants for large mammals (so far unsuccessfully) and use
helicopters to shoot goats on ridge lines. Mouflon sheep are shot from
the air on the Big Island. A pilot plan to broad cast rat poison from
the air backfired recently, when the amount deployed was several times
the recommended dose, and killed several pigs who had eaten the bait,
angering the local hunting community.
Our attempts to access information on animal control activities by TNCH
have been stonewalled- even though they are partnered with government
agencies and the data should be public information; we have been unable
to find out how many animals were killed or how they were killed. Our
DLNR is run like an autonomous state- and does not part with information
easily. Our Police Dept. must account for every bullet fired; this is
not the case for game managers.
Now TNCH has hired ProHunt, a New Zealand animal extermination company
to kill pigs on their properties on Moloka’i. (2) ProHunt has murdered
5,000 pigs on Santa Cruz Island for TNC and the National Park Service.
They are now engaged in killing wild turkeys (over 200 so far), and
activists in California are suing to stop the killing. The enviros are
not content with keeping down feral animal populations they want to
extirpate every non-native species in Hawaii—except, of course,
themselves. Even the tiny Coqui Frog, beloved in its native Puerto Rico,
and is being stomped, drowned and burned to death with citric acid, just
because it has a loud mating call.
Immuno-contraception and remotely delivered sterilization have proved
successful with African Elephants and feral horses, and will, with more
research, provide a synthetic humane methodology for population control
for many more species, but so long as snares are legal and cheap, they
will continue to kill and maim.
Some websites below will be of interest:
(1)
www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/
states/hawaii/preserves/art2325.html
(2) http://prohunt.co.nz/
WHAT YOU CAN DO!
Contact the Governor’s office and say you won’t travel to Hawai’i so
long as cruel snares are used- there are lots of other beautiful, warm,
tropical destinations ...
Honorable Governor Linda Lingle, Executive Chambers, State Capitol,
Honolulu, Hawaii, 96813, Phone: 808-586-0034, Fax: 808-586-0006,
e-mail: governor.lingle@hawaii.gov
Cathy Goeggel is Director, Research and Investigations Animal Rights
Hawaii, P.O. Box 10845, Honolulu, HI 96816
www.animalrightshawaii.com
