Fast-acting work crews prevented a live bat from escaping a containership docked at Honolulu Harbor on Monday, according to state officials.
Crews aboard the Pasha Hawaii ship, which had arrived from San Diego, covered the approximately 3-inch-long black-and-brown bat with a Styrofoam cup and then placed a cone and glove over the cup to contain it, according to a state Department of Agriculture statement Thursday.
DOA inspectors responded, and officials at the Bishop Museum identified the bat Wednesday as a Western pipistrelle, which is found in the western United States and Mexico, according to the release.
Tissue samples from the bat sent to a laboratory on the mainland to test for the rabies virus came back negative Thursday, the department said.
Hawaii is the only state known to be without rabies, and officials say its introduction on the islands would profoundly affect local wildlife.
Officials encourage anyone who sees or captures illegal and invasive species to report it to the state’s toll-free “Pest Hotline” at 643-7378.
New panel to guide use of land fund
The city’s new Clean Water and Natural Lands Advisory Commission will hold its first meeting at 9 a.m. today at the Mission Memorial Building’s ground-floor hearing room.
The seven-member commission is charged with advising the City Council on how it should distribute money from the Clean Water and Natural Lands fund to programs that preserve undeveloped land.
The three members appointed by Mayor Kirk Caldwell are Sherry Broder, Giorgio Caldarone and William Reese Liggett. The three appointed by the Council are Kin Falinski, Elliott “Kai” Raymond Markell and Jason Kekahi “Kahi” Pacarro. A seventh member is to be nominated by the six appointed commission members.
Voters in 2006 approved an amendment to the Honolulu City Charter establishing the fund by setting aside 0.5 percent of annual real property tax revenue for land conservation. There was no charter language, however, describing how the money was to be distributed. The Council, by resolution, established a nine-member advisory commission and appointed members, without input from the administration.
That changed in the 2016 general election when voters approved a charter amendment codifying rules on the selection process and establishing the seven-member commission with input from the Council and mayor.
