Hawai'i's native plants and animals are being destroyed, and its natural areas degraded, by pigs, goats, sheep and deer that were introduced to the islands, released into the wild, and allowed to increase in number for hunting. The high costs resulting from these poorly controlled invasive animals far outweigh the benefits. In the 1950s, Hawai'i's government ended policies that protected forested watersheds--and the agriculture and native species that depend on those watersheds--by aggressively controlling invasive hoofed animals. The result has been a steady decrease in native biodiversity and watershed quality, and a steady increase in agricultural losses and other costs.
Only hunters benefit from having thousands of land-modifying invasive animals roaming public and private property. This situation is unsustainable and unfair to all those coping with animal damage--that is, every taxpayer in the islands.
In 2011, with the support of Governor Neil Abercrombie, DLNR chair William Aila took an important step to begin the process of change. DLNR announced a plan, called The Rain Follows the Forest, to fence some watershed areas and remove invasive hoofed animals. This is a significant change, but much more needs to be done. DLNR has not addressed its harmful policies that protect invasive hoofed animals as "game mammals" and limit how many can be taken by hunters, even though the animals reproduce faster than hunters can control them. The Hawai'i Department of Agriculture and chair Russell Kokubun are doing nothing to address the hoofed animal problem, though feral pigs and deer are both devastating agricultural pests. Because of the decades-long absence of a solid conservation message coming from DLNR and other state entities, most of Hawai'i's people, including the Hawai'i State Legislature, have little understanding of island conservation issues. Much more dedicated funding, and much more public participation in pest animal control, are needed to protect Hawai'i's land, water, agriculture, and biodiversity for future generations.
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To
sum up the problem: Hawai‘i’s
game mammals are a recreational and food resource. However they are harmful invasive species in Hawai'i and are far too numerous and widespread to be controlled by public hunting. Pigs, goats, sheep, and deer that have been introduced to islands:
• damage
watersheds, crops, livestock, turfgrass, and recreational areas
• spread other invasive species such as strawberry guava and aggressive
grasses
• contaminate the fresh water supply with disease-causing organisms
• destroy native species and their habitat
• prevent the recovery of rare and endangered species
• increase rockfalls, mudslides, and reef siltation by accelerating erosion
• cause vehicle collisions on the roads
• force people who do not want large grazing animals on their property to pay for expensive fences and other control measures
Hawai‘i lacks effective policy and programs to keep game animals inside Game Management Areas and out of crops, ranches, and important watershed areas.
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- Since
the Territorial government's effective "noxious animal control"
policy ended with the promotion of an official game
program in the 1950s as statehood approached,
Hawai'i's
natural areas, farms, and other property have
been
subjected to
increasing damage
by free-roaming
pigs, goats, sheep, deer, and wild cattle. The State of Hawai‘i game program imposes take restrictions that prevent hunters from contributing to population control in any meaningful way, even though these animals are controlled around
the world as invasive species. Hawai‘i lags behind, and pays
the price with ongoing degradation of watersheds, agriculture,
and no safety for the islands' native plants and animals.
- New Zealand and Australia both have similar problems to Hawai‘i’s: they have large populations of invasive hoofed animals that are valued for hunting but are too widespread and reproduce too rapidly for hunters to control. These countries have developed comprehensive policy that supports problem animal control. Many U.S. states are also much further along than Hawai‘i in this respect. Hawai‘i’s invasive mammals are not listed by the state's Department of Agriculture as "pests." (The word "pest" is not intended to insult people who appreciate the animals, it is simply the term in Hawai‘i law for organisms that are "injurious to the environment or vegetation of value.") The state has no policy framework to support the effective management of invasive mammals. The Australian state of Queensland would make an excellent model for Hawai‘i with its system for classifying invasive animals and developing management strategies for high-threat species including feral pigs and goats.
- Our
future food independence is at risk, with hoofed animals
continuously destroying crops and converting high-quality watershed forests to erosion-prone forests dominated by a few introduced plants. There are crops our local farmers
just cannot grow, because the pigs are too numerous. Unmanaged hoofed animals also carry diseases that affect
both livestock and humans.
Feral pigs
carry diseases that can make people sick as well. They prey on other animals and eat rotting carcasses
of their own species and other livestock.
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- Many “hunting
areas” are actually conservation lands that are designated
for hunting to reduce the number of animals in those areas.
However, this
policy has never worked; the animals reproduce far too rapidly
to be controlled through public hunting alone, and many remote
areas rarely see a hunter at all. In a baffling twist, the hunting program still imposes take restrictions on invasive game mammals, even in endangered species habitat. The hunting rules, with take limits and maps can be found here.
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A
brief history
of game mammals in Hawai‘i |
- Before the Polynesians arrived, Hawai‘i had no hoofed animals.
The Polynesians brought small pigs that were
kept as livestock, not released into the forest and hunted as later
animals
were. (Most evidence indicates
the Polynesian pig was purely a domestic animal, not a game animal. For
more information, see P.Q. Tomich, 1986, Mammals in Hawaii.)
- During the era in which
Captain Cook arrived in the islands, it was common for ships’ crews
to release domestic animals on the islands they visited, to multiply
and provide a food
source for future visits.
- Cook and subsequent ships brought goats, sheep, cattle, and European
swine to Hawaii, beginning in 1778.
- All these animals thrived and began to permanently alter the island
landscape, as grazing animals do all over the world.
- Around 1900, faced with
massive
watershed
damage
by
feral
mammals,
the
Hawai‘i Territorial Board of Agriculture and Forestry initiated
an animal control program. It included shooting, poisoning,
bounties, and fencing a system of Forest Reserves. In about 50
years, 170,000 feral pigs were removed from the forests statewide, along with tens of thousands of goats and other hoofed animals.
"The numbers of feral sheep and goats grazing on the ranges of
the various islands also created problems in the loss of habitat--the
destruction of cover and subsequent erosion of the soil. Today
the
goats, sheep, and pigs are classed as game and are hunted as 'mainlanders'
hunt deer. Hunting, in some areas, has reduced this 'game' to such
low numbers that seasons must be imposed to insure future sport.
The Japanese, or 'axis,' deer--which were brought to Molakai [sic]
Island during the last century as a gift to the King--also offer
possibilities for transplanting to the other islands to add to
hunting opportunities, Mr. Rutherford* says. The Territory is now
studying these acclimated deer
to determine if such
transplanting
operations
are advisable." *Chief of the U.S. Fish and wildlife
Service's Branch of Federal Aid, who at the time of this
press release 'had recently returned from Hawaii, where he
inspected
the Territory's
projects under the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid to Wildlife
Restoration Act.'
The FWS
has changed its position and no longer promotes invasive ungulates.
- Beginning in
the 1950s, additional game species were introduced. DOFAW's
forerunner,
the
Hawaii Division of Fish and Game, introduced mouflon to Kaua'i,
Hawai'i, and Lana'i. Axis deer, previously limited to Moloka'i, were
introduced
to Maui, Lana'i, and O'ahu. With
statehood
in
1959,
HDFG took over responsibility for free-roaming
hoofed animals from the Board of Agriculture
and Forestry. HDFG ended the policy of reducing animal
populations to
protect
the land and water and instituted a
policy of sustained
yield, with bag limits and hunting seasons.
- Since the 1950s, there has been no effective plan or policy development to protect public
land and private property from the damage caused by pigs,
goats, sheep, and deer that wander freely over the islands.
- In the meantime, as our understanding of the severity of the problem has grown, other states and countries have pursued
intensive control research, planning, and policy aimed at reducing the threat
from introduced hoofed animals.
List of sources |
Hawai‘i's
Animal Management Agencies |
DOFAW
is the agency charged with protecting Hawai‘i's forests and
watersheds:
DOFAW Policy B: Protect
and enhance the condition of Hawaii's unique native plant and animal
species, and native ecosystems for their inherent value to Hawaii's
citizens and for their productive value to science, education,
industry and the cultural enrichment of future generations and
prevent species extinctions whenever possible. (Source: 2004
DLNR DOFAW report to State Legislature)
Without fencing around clearly defined
game management areas and no effective plan or policy to manage invasive vertebrates, there is no control over where the animals go or how numerous they become. It is
therefore impossible for DOFAW to implement Policy B.
Hawaii Department of Agriculture
is the agency charged with declaring pests:
Language in the Hawaii Revised Statutes (available here) discourages DOA from listing pests by placing the responsibility for controlling declared pests almost entirely with DOA. This language also removes responsibility from the public at a time when we need all hands on deck to help manage our severe pest problems.
§141-3 Designation of pests; control or eradication of pests; emergency power. (a) The department of agriculture shall designate the coqui frog as a pest. All other pest designations shall be established by rule, including the criteria and procedures for the designation of pests for control or eradication.
(b) The department of agriculture shall, so far as reasonably practicable, assist, free of cost to individuals, in the control or eradication of insects, mites, diseases, noxious weeds, or other pests injurious to the environment or vegetation of value; and in the investigation, suppression, and eradication of contagious, infectious, and communicable diseases among domestic animals; and shall in like manner distribute to points where needed, beneficial insects, or pathogens and other antidotes for the control of insects, mites, diseases, or other pests injurious to the environment or vegetation of value, and for the control or eradication of vegetation of a noxious character.
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Position
paper from the Hawaii Conservation Alliance on feral ungulates (hoofed
animals). Alliance partners include UH, DOFAW, USDA, and Kamehameha
Schools: HCA Home
Page. See also:
Haleakala
National Park fencing and USGS
on Hawaii's natural history
Conservation
Council for Hawai'i Introduced Game Animal Control Campaign |
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Will tomorrow's Hawai'i look like this...
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Or
this?
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