Thursday, May 24, 2012

Mongooses on Kauai?

Yesterday the first live mongoose to be caught on Kauai was trapped at the Marriott Kauai Lagoons. Houston, we have a problem.

Photo courtesy of Hawaii News Now

In the late 1800s mongooses were introduced to Big Island, Maui, Molokai, Oahu in an effort to curb rat populations. Unfortunately rats are nocturnal, while mongooses are active in daylight hours, rendering their introduction completely useless. Mongoose populations exploded on the islands they were introduced, decimating ground-nesting  native bird populations including petrels, shearwaters, and Hawaii's state bird, the nene.

Kauai, it seems, had been spared. The story goes a ship loaded with a crate of the critters was destined for the island in 1883. One of the workers on board was bitten (they're not very nice), and in a fit of rage kicked the entire crate into the water (thank you random bipolar guy!). No other shipments of mongooses were sent to Kauai.

Growing up there, I had always thought of Kauai as mongoose-free. Just another reason it was the best island. (Uhh... I mean worst. Don't go there.) But every once in a while I'd hear someone describe a rat-like creature they'd seen but had no idea what it was. In 2003, my uncle came to visit from the mainland. He was walking along a beach on the north shore when he saw some sort of strange mammal he couldn't place. As he described it to us - kind of like a rat and squirrel mixed together - it sounded a lot like the mammal that wasn't supposed to exist on Kauai. February 2004 saw another report of a mongoose sighting appear in the local newspaper, The Garden Island.

In fact, there have apparently been over 160 "credible" reports of mongooses over the past 44 years, with sightings ranging all over the island.

Then they found one. In 1976 a lactating female was found dead on the road in Kalaheo. Kauai definitely had a mongoose problem. But the question shifted from "Are they here?" to "Are they established?" If mongooses had a stable breeding population, Kauai was in trouble.

Now that a live mongoose has actually been caught - this one a mature male - there is little doubt Kauai has an established population of mongooses in the Lihue area. Likely elsewhere too. What worries me are those sightings spanning the entire island. Just how serious is Kauai's mongoose infestation? And how can we stop it before the Garden Isle becomes as lifeless as Oahu (again, I'm a little biased)?

Check out the article on the KHON 2 News website: First Live Mongoose Captured on Kauai

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