Threat of Axis Deer on the Big Island

[Midnight Rambler]

quote:

---

Originally posted by SaveHawaiisWildlife

2) Encourage a balanced hybrid ecosystem between native and non-native animals by reducing animal numbers when needed

---

In reality, this is all that can be done in most cases. That's why the sheep are a strawman, because they're the exception - they're mostly limited to Mauna Kea, and live in open country. You could never eradicate pigs, for example, or deer once they get to the point they are on Maui and Kauai.

quote:

---

(this can be achieved through no limit hunting seasons.

---

In fact, there was a bill proposed to do just that in the last legislative session. It was shot down, by the hunters' lobby.

quote:

---

One man single-handedly eradicated all of the goats off of niihau over the course of 2 years without modern technology, so don't tell me hunting is an ineffective control method)

---

That was possible because they had laid waste to so much of the island by then that they were easy to spot and shoot. Goats completely devastated Oahu, but then were nearly eradicated. The last few herds though, in the Waianaes, are very persistent. People have mostly forgotten what it was like.

Compare these pictures; in the old ones, the valleys are completely denuded almost up to the summit:
Nuuanu Valley, 1889 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22966549@N06/6216965714/
Nuuanu Valley, 1996 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22966549@N06/6216965720/

Pauoa Valley, 1908 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22966549@N06/6216965722/
Pauoa Valley, 1996 http://www.flickr.com/photos/22966549@N06/6216965724/