Kokua Line: Is state helping with feral chickens?

Question: Regarding the feral chickens, I have some questions. If they’re on city or state property, we still don’t have to pay for it, right? How much did the city budget for catching chickens on private property? What about the state? It should be kicking in, too, because I am pretty sure the roosters waking me up in St. Louis Heights started out on state forest land and moved downhill.

Answer: You are correct that private citizens are not responsible for controlling feral chickens that live on public property — contact the government entity overseeing the property and ask them to do it. For contact information and to determine which entity has jurisdiction, go to honolulu.gov/csd and click on “Feral Chickens” under the heading “More Services and Information.”

What has changed is that Honolulu’s municipal government is now subsidizing feral chicken removal from private property on Oahu, through a contract with Sandwich Isle Pest Solutions that has the city and the property owner sharing costs to trap and dispose of feral fowl, as we wrote last week (808ne.ws/914kline). Previously, the private property owner was solely responsible. The city has budgeted $50,000 for this program through June.

To answer your final question, the state is not yet contributing financially to the city’s program, but it is participating in a working group established last legislative session by Senate Concurrent Resolution 92, HD 1, which could lead to such funding next session. The resolution says that “to protect Hawai‘i’s ecosystem, natural resources, and the health and safety of its residents, it is critical that the State work together with the City and County of Honolulu to identify and implement collaborative solutions to control the significant increase in the population of feral chickens and roosters.”

The working group, which includes the city’s Department of Customer Services and the state departments of Agriculture, Land and Natural Resources, and Health, is tasked with identifying “solutions to mitigate and control the significant increase in the population of feral chickens and roosters on the island of O‘ahu.” The resolution (808ne.ws/SCR92) asks the working group to research and report to the Legislature before next session about “solutions to capture feral chickens and roosters, including providing free traps to members of the public”; steps to take once the feral fowl have been caught, “including collaboration with community organizations and nonprofits, private businesses, and farms”; and the costs of the various approaches.

Kim Hashiro, director of the city’s Department of Customer Service and a member of the working group, said in an interview last week that she has told the working group about the city’s new program and will keep track of how well it is used. “We want to work together with the state and have all levels of government work together along with private property owners in a collective approach” to curtail the nuisance of feral fowl, she said.

Mahalo

On Sept. 10 at around 5:45 a.m., I caught my toe on a very uneven sidewalk at the intersection of Ala Wai Boulevard and Kapahulu Avenue, taking a hard fall. In a few minutes two young men crossed the intersection from the zoo, and one helped me up. He proceeded to take out many bandages of gauze and tape from his backpack to cover my extremely bloody knees and elbow. The gift from this young man to a total stranger was truly priceless. I would love to find this good Samaritan to properly thank him. — K.S.

(Note: If the helper reads this, email Kokua Line and we’ll put you touch.)

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.