RareHawaii - Feral Sheep and Mouflon




Rare Hawai‘i: It wasn’t meant to be a barnyard 70 million years of evolution. Thousands of plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. Introduced pigs, goats, deer and sheep roaming freely over public lands. More than 265 extinctions and counting. (Note: If the format of this page looks strange, try another browser, like Firefox.)

Report about invasive species in Hawaii available online From The Hawaii State Legislative Reference Bureau (pdf file)

Environmental Valuation and the Hawaiian Economy takes a look at the financial and social costs of losing native Hawai`i.

USGS's Hawaii and the Pacific Islands page. Scroll down a few pages and look for Feral Pigs, followed by Feral Goats and so on.

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SHEEP and MOUFLON: Like goats, converting native ecosystems to weeds and dust

State Limits Hunting in Bird Sanctuary. Why? Hunters, State Stir Up Legal Action Over Removal of Sheep from Mauna Kea Arizona Biologists Help Restore Mauna Kea Silversword, One Of Hawaii's Most Critically Endangered Plants Plants used to be all over the slopes. Now you find plants growing only on cliff faces out of the reach of these browsing animals. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Determination of Endangered Status for Argyroxiphium kauense (Ka`u Silversword) Endangered why? Because of introduced game mammals.	The native plants and animals of the island of Hawai'i are at great risk from rapidly expanding populations of sheep: European mouflon (Ovis mousimon) and domestic sheep (Ovis aries) that have returned to a wild state. Sheep are known throughout the world for chewing vegetation right down to the dirt. Unfenced sheep should be eradicated from Hawai'i. The longer they are allowed to reproduce and spread, the more native habitat will be lost, and the more costly sheep removal and habitat restoration will be.
	This photo was taken in 2007 on Mauna Loa. Mouflon reproduce very rapidly in Hawaii where their only predators are humans.
	Feral sheep near Pu'u wa'awa'a, home to some of the rarest plants on Earth.