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Individuals striving for self-sufficiency are still encouraged to do so -- they just have to be able to afford enough fencing.
Of course, people who can afford fencing don't "need" to grow their own food, right?
Just wait until someone dies in a deer collision -- the lawyers will find someone to sue.
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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.
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they can do a number on rose gardens as well - on the other hand deer fencing is pretty cheap, on my visits to nor cal .... my buddy uses those party poppers on thin fish line trip lines
one learns to adapt.... kinda cool to see them in the mist at a distance - hunting - yeah I guess so..... but to shoot Bambi.... not my deal - grin
off to work - manana
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The Big Island will not be able to adapt to a proliferation of any ungulate. Our landscape would be deforested and have devastating effects on native wildlife as well as water run off. And yes, to fence mouflan sheep is extremely expensive. I'm sorry Bullwinkle, but to have the view of "oh well, the island will adapt" is ignorant and dangerous.
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Bullwinkle is half-right: when the entire island looks like Waikoloa Village, the deer will no longer be tolerated by the management -- assuming a volcanic eruption doesn't destroy everything before then.
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quote:
Originally posted by kalakoa
Individuals striving for self-sufficiency are still encouraged to do so -- they just have to be able to afford enough fencing.
Of course, people who can afford fencing don't "need" to grow their own food, right?
Just wait until someone dies in a deer collision -- the lawyers will find someone to sue.
If I hit one of those oversize rats while on my motorbike, I hope my survivors would take the a-holes that brought them here to the cleaners
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If they going ban roundup they should unleash the deer on Puna consequently u won't need roundup??
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Seeing how they eliminated the coqui frog - The Axis deer may have little to fear.....
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There's rumors of remnents of the axis deer herd seen in the Koolau mountains of Oahu- maybe got hope yet!!
Possibly fodder for a new reality show on Discovery channel?
