01-17-2014, 05:20 PM
The original deer brought here, in the 1870's, were only on Molokai. They were not brought to Maui until the 1960's, by the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife. They had planned to bring them to the Big Island at the time as well in the early 70's, but pressure from the conservation community stopped it, and the state eventually realized how catastrophically bad it was for Maui. It was, in fact, "a couple of guys with a helicopter" who ultimately brought them to the Big Island.
And for those mainland posters repeatedly commenting on how deer aren't really that bad and we should just live with it - there are also actually blacktail deer (originally from the Pacific Northwest) on Kauai. They don't get nearly as much notice because they're not as big a problem. Axis deer are capable of jumping higher (it requires at least an 8 foot fence to keep them out), surviving in drier places, and often move in herds, so they can cause a great deal of destruction.
And for those mainland posters repeatedly commenting on how deer aren't really that bad and we should just live with it - there are also actually blacktail deer (originally from the Pacific Northwest) on Kauai. They don't get nearly as much notice because they're not as big a problem. Axis deer are capable of jumping higher (it requires at least an 8 foot fence to keep them out), surviving in drier places, and often move in herds, so they can cause a great deal of destruction.