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A mongoose captured in Nawilili Harbor on the island of Kauai on June 29, 2012. (Courtesy photo)
WAILUKU » Federal wildlife officials have reopened a public comment period for a draft environmental impact statement regarding the eradication of mongooses and rodents in Hawaii’s native ecosystems and wildlife refuges.
The new comment period ends April 7. An official with the Fish and Wildlife Service on Oahu says the federal agency reopened the public comment period to fall in line with the state’s approval process. The previous period was held June 30 to Oct. 28, The Maui News reported.
The draft environmental impact statement presents the use of mechanical traps, compressed carbon dioxide and rodenticides as ways to control the mongoose and rodent populations. There are methods used to maintain the populations in urban and agricultural areas, but they need to be adapted for conservation areas, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife said.
Mongooses and rodents have caused extinctions and severe declines of many Hawaiian native species, including the Oahu elepaio, Oahu tree snails and native palms, according to the agency.
The Fish and Wildlife Service said the draft environmental impact statement is meant only for informational and planning purposes, and does not call for any action to take place.
The mongoose was first brought to Hawaii Island in 1883, then to Maui, Molokai and Oahu. The mammal native to Africa and Asia was introduced to the islands by sugar industry officials to control rats in the cane fields, according to the Hawaii Native Species Council.
Current methods used to control rodents and mongooses include using live and kill traps and diphacinone in bait stations. Diphacinone has been used to protect Hawaii’s native species since the 1990s.
Mongoose eats rats. Homeless don’t eat rats.
With all the opala… more than enough for the rats and mongoose… the mongoose don’t bother catching and eating rats. Rats were never preferred food for them anyway. So now the rats and mongoose are both proliferating. Plus the feral cats which also need to be culled and controlled, but that would cause problems for all the cat lovers.
Looks like the homeless will never be on the most endangered list.
da mongoose no boddah me.
put mongoose on oh-bama-care, they’ll be extinct in six-months…..
Put a bounty on them and they will soon disappear.
I thought the mongoose were all gone, and that’s why we have all these fricken chickens running around EVERYwhere. In fact, I only remember seeing one in the past couple of years.
Maybe Obama can issue an executive order to eradicate the critters. It would no doubt be about as effective as the rest of his presidential actions.
Cute photo of the “Hawaiian squirrel.”
Leave the mongooses alone and fix the potholes in Honolulu.