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Well, just had my first encounter with a bonafide "cat fanatic." Apparently a lady known as "the cat lady" spread cat food all around Ahalanui park. A crew of two was there cleaning it up. I only knew about it because they approached us to apologize for the noise. They explained why they were there, and were really ticked off.
Feral cat fanatics. I get it now.
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
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At some level I believe folks feeding feral cats (or feral anything) are as culpable as the pilot bringing over the deer.
Its about selective enforcement and for the most part a failing to control the invasive critters that are doing real damage every day.....
at least one can eat the deer if the sh.... hits the fan.
that was my point.
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I think a bounty on feral cats and dogs would be worth a try.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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Oink, THEY DID HAVE A BOUNTY, way back in the old cane days (watershed protection).... people bred 'em right & left for the bounty.... and the landowners had at least had a little more control on the activities on their land.... tho' not much.... today????.... I dunno.... we have despicable puppy mills for the mega-buck poi breeds... few animals are spayed or neutered, even though they give drastic discounts & even give a way the service, and you think anyone in their right mind is gonna go out in the gulches looking for the ferals??? (added highlight for Oink....who may NEVER have been in the gulches looking for invasive species.... in the areas they seem to migrate to, esp if there is any hunting pressure.... and the only gulch hunting I have done is for plants... and that is a killer & they don't move! after a couple of hours ya just want out.... eradication teams often go in for a week or more, and there is no financially feasible way to bring most bounty out... then how to track the hunter & the bounty???? we cannot even get an election done with no oddities!!!
Reality check is that they could not even get hunters, with monetary incentives, to eradicate ferals in Hakalau... only with-in their eradication zone have they achieved a high percentage feral eradication.... utilizing multi level eradication plans.... hunters, even with bounty, would only do the easy in-easy out hunting.... there is a cost/benefit even for bounty hunters & the gulches here weight heavily in the "ain't worth it" end of the balance...
Read some of the links, then start putting $$$ signs on the costs....
Who is supposed to pay for all of this? and now all of the exclusion fences are open to the axis deer, as they were put in place for the animals that WERE here.... the deer can far out jump anything that was here.... and we now do not have the low cost fencing crew that we had a few years ago.... and materials, labor & transport are that much higher..... WHO WILL PAY FOR THIS???? habitat will & so will all of the residents of this island.... AND NOT THE DEER IMPORTERS????
Hakalau feral pig link:
http://hilo.hawaii.edu/hcsu/documents/HC...nalPDF.pdf
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Yes, it seems there are scattered boa constrictor reports. You know it has to be people smuggling them in somehow, maybe a false bottom on a dog cage.
The hunters don't seem to be effective at all, there are huge herds of moufon sheep all over up north. It sounds like the county might be able to eradicate the axis deer on the BI. There has to be a bigger eradication effort. A lot of people don't want to see the killing of any animal but these invasive species are harmful to people with their destruction of vegetation and fecal matter in streams and farm irrigation, as well as destroying the environment of endangered indigenous species.
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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For the bounty on feral cats and dogs to work, the bounty amount has to be high enough to pay for eradication costs plus a little, but not enough to make farming them worthwhile. Ideas that didn't work when tried with one method might very well work with a different or tweaked method. Why give up so easily?
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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The tribune has more details this morning, raises more questions.
quote:
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections...sland.html
Ken Foote, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman, said Hauptman has not identified the recipient of the deer.
“He just said it was a friend of his and another guy he knew but he didn’t give names or locations,” Foote said.
Others are believed to be involved, and the investigation is ongoing.
So, the BI guys haven't been identified yet. But it's seems likely it will be some Puna hunters and this is probably the tip of an iceberg.
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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I hadn't even considered that diabolical thinking, Carey! That people would farm cats to collect a bounty... Wow. But I see your point.
What about making it illegal for people to feed feral cat colonies? Trapping and humane euthanization is a better solution than letting them starve to death or die by disease (at the same time spreading disease). Feeding them is, I'm sorry, WHACKED OUT THINKING. Feeding any creatures in the wild is just not OK. You don't see people feeding bears on purpose, even feeding fish in the wild is frowned upon. You don't see people going out and feeding the wild cows or deer or goats... It creates an imbalance in nature. These people need to find a different cause and have legal repercussions if they refuse to cease and desist. They should also probably get checked for that mind controlling parasite... Seriously.
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
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YurtGirl, I was going to make a bad joke about putting a bounty on cat fanatics and rogue helicopter pilots instead, but you more eloquently made my point: too bad we can't/don't penalize the folks who are "enabling" both the introduction and proliferation of ANY invasive species. But I fear it's wishful thinking. In many ways we're kind of like a tropical version of Mayberry here. We're still struggling to master the basics; we recently forgot how to run elections properly, and still haven't learned how to design safe intersections. And if we haven't yet arrested the hooligans who assaulted those folks in Seaview last month, I doubt we could get anyone to stake out the cat lady at Ahalanui.
Punishing that pilot and whoever else was in on the smuggling operation is a no brainer. What to do about the crazy cat people is a tough call.
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
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A BOUNTY ON ROGUE HELICOPTER PILOTS????!!! SIGN ME UP!!! (kidding... seriously. I won't be the one shooting them down. But someone probably will soon. And I won't be able to not defend them.)
It's good in a lot of ways that Hawaii doesn't function the same way as the mainland. The Devil is in the details, or so I've heard. Let them in to regulate and before long, everything is regulated. It seems some county laws about feeding the cats would go a long way though. No patrols would be needed if you could prove that any person is feeding them through pictures, etc. Fine, not jail the feeders. I wonder if there's any precedence to this. Note to self to search...
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
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