Mountain Lion in Hawaii

PPK96754

Miki Dora status
Apr 15, 2015
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Kauai's north shore ~
Shane Dorian lives up in Holualoa, which is located on Hualalai and I would imagine along with local hunters will take a shot at looking for the big cat.

Hualalai, overlooks the areas of Kailua Town and to the West, where multiple cinder cones are located in the Puu'waa'waa Ranch area and Puu'anahulu. Towards the coastline area would be multiple resorts and golfing. Further west would be Waikoloa and Anaiho'omalu Bay and more resorts.
 

Pico

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Aug 20, 2010
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PJ

Gerry Lopez status
Jan 27, 2002
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The second article, after the big cat article, in which the writer goes to the ocean In Long Beach, NY - on Long Island (famously where Subway lives) and is surprised that the beach is barred by the boardwalk and that he has to pay the town for a daily permit to go on the beach in contrast to Hawaii's free beach access (and how it wasn't always that way in Hawaii) is interesting. I never really never questioned the East coast fees myself but I am always happy to pay them since they have to run those big sand cleaning machines up and down the beach all summer and I see the storms on the news ripping away the sand and boardwalks and flooding everything when I'm not around so I figure it's the least I can do to help them fix all that stuff.
 

Clayster

Miki Dora status
Oct 26, 2005
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So, I get the problem with invasive species. But cougars, leopards, etc,? That's some cool sh!t right there.

Let them in. I don't see how they could hurt.
 
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Subway

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Dec 31, 2008
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Wonder how long the chickens would last with a few jaguar families roaming the jungles and communities of Kauai
 

bruhdakine

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Jul 7, 2003
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There's so many deer running around Maui. I saw a group of 5 large deer run in front of my car in my parent's neighborhood the other night. Thought I was in Oregon for a minute. I'm pretty sure they're axis deer but they were bigger than I expected. Pretty crazy to see them running down the street in a somewhat dense neighborhood. Maybe a few natural predators would help keep their numbers in check. Same with all the goats out in Kaniao.
 

Boneroni

Tom Curren status
Mar 5, 2012
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There's so many deer running around Maui. I saw a group of 5 large deer run in front of my car in my parent's neighborhood the other night. Thought I was in Oregon for a minute. I'm pretty sure they're axis deer but they were bigger than I expected. Pretty crazy to see them running down the street in a somewhat dense neighborhood. Maybe a few natural predators would help keep their numbers in check. Same with all the goats out in Kaniao.
Curious. Was absolutely fascinating to learn that Hawaii has no native land mammals. Easy to see how rats, cats, pigs and deer could get out of control there.

I wouldn't think that any type of large cat could populate to the point of being a problem, due to large prey scarcity and desire to isolate from humans, but I would leave that to the experts.
 

Clayster

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I thought you understood the problem with invasive species?
Large cats are the polar opposite of "invasive species", moron.

Instead, they are an "endangered" species, worldwide. Why? A lot of reasons, a key one being low reproductive rates. Almost all invasive species have high reproductive rates. Big cats do not. Look up the word "endangered"; you seem to confuse "invasive" with "endangered".

Countless countries around the globe strive to protect large cats as a result. They routinely transplant them to safer and different environments to keep them from going extinct.

I'm not saying that Hawaii should allow large cats; that's up to the state. But Hawaii seems like a perfect environment to allow big cats to thrive, reproduce and replenish the species. The downside? They eat some goats and sheep and make ranchers mad. The upside? They feast on rodents intrusive to Hawaii, and perhaps replenish the species while providing some entertainment for the locals and tourists.
 

keenfish

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May 12, 2002
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They need something to keep the mongoose population in check. And the Chickens.

They should have brought in Cobras. That would take care of both.. Oh wait.....
 
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grapedrink

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May 21, 2011
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Large cats are the polar opposite of "invasive species", moron.

Instead, they are an "endangered" species, worldwide. Why? A lot of reasons, a key one being low reproductive rates. Almost all invasive species have high reproductive rates. Big cats do not. Look up the word "endangered"; you seem to confuse "invasive" with "endangered".

Countless countries around the globe strive to protect large cats as a result. They routinely transplant them to safer and different environments to keep them from going extinct.

I'm not saying that Hawaii should allow large cats; that's up to the state. But Hawaii seems like a perfect environment to allow big cats to thrive, reproduce and replenish the species. The downside? They eat some goats and sheep and make ranchers mad. The upside? They feast on rodents intrusive to Hawaii, and perhaps replenish the species while providing some entertainment for the locals and tourists.
The challenge with large cats is the amount of land area per cat required to support them if they are using wild animals as their food source. Every deer (or other food source) requires a certain amount of wild plants to grow up, and each cat needs to eat a certain number of deer. It’s very challenging in todays world and requires extensive conservation planning, especially when their habitat bumps up into (sub)urban areas.

Still curious as to how the cat got there in the fist place :unsure:
 
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