Stowaway raccoon captured on Matson ship

State inspectors captured a 15-pound adult female raccoon on New Year’s Eve after it stowed away on a Matson cargo ship from Long Beach, Calif., the state Department of Agriculture said Wednesday.

The raccoon was spotted scampering on the deck of the ship Monday afternoon, and Matson called the Agriculture Department, which sent out inspectors from its Plant Quarantine Branch, which also is in charge of controlling nonnative animals and insects.

The inspectors captured the critter using a trap with food, the department said. They performed rabies tests on the raccoon and sent samples Wednesday to a mainland laboratory.

Hawaii News Now reported that the raccoon was euthanized because tissue for rabies tests
must be taken from the brain.

Raccoons can carry rabies and other diseases and, if they become established in Hawaii, pose a danger to ground-nesting birds and other endangered species, said Agriculture Department spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi.