WAILUA — The community is our partner, said Keren Gundersen, project manager of the Kaua‘i Invasive Species Committee Tuesday after she fielded a call from a resident about a mongoose sighting. The mongoose is one of the top priority pests
WAILUA — The community is our partner, said Keren Gundersen, project manager of the Kaua‘i Invasive Species Committee Tuesday after she fielded a call from a resident about a mongoose sighting.
The mongoose is one of the top priority pests for KISC, and reports of sightings, like sightings of other KISC pests, are taken seriously, Gundersen said.
“It is imperative that we keep community interest alive regarding these species as well as giving kudos to our community partners,” Gundersen said in an email.
Following the first live capture of a mongoose by KISC trapper Pat Gmelin on May 23, a second mongoose, this time a juvenile, was captured on June 29 at the Young Brothers pier in Nawiliwili.
“This capture demonstrated the community effort,” Gundersen said. “The first call came from Ann Kam of the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture, Plant Quarantine division, who got a call from her husband, Wendell Kam, the Young Brothers Nawiliwili Port manager.”
Nolan Fernandes, at work on the pier, spotted the animal as it ran along a group of containers in the YB holding area.
Keith Marugami, driving a big lift, was the next to spot it, scaring it back to Fernandes’ area. Jason Langtad, operating another big lift, spotted the animal scurrying toward stacked containers, prompting Wendell to be notified. Together, they managed to trap the animal under one of the containers.
“This was real exciting,” Gundersen said. “There were so many people involved in the capture. KISC had a team working at Kaua‘i Landscaping and Nursery and dispatched it to the Young Brothers pier.”
Gundersen said the YB crew secured the openings under the container while Wendell contacted his wife Ann who, in turn, contacted the KISC office.
The KISC crew of Joe Kona, Joseph Aguon-Kona, Mugs Kaneholani, Cleve Javier, Ray Kahaunaele and Gundersen tried to get the mongoose to come out from under the containers. Jason Matsumoto, a local fisherman, was washing his boat down at the adjacent Nawiliwili Small Boat Harbor. Matsumoto passed the hose through the chainlink fence and the mongoose was literally flushed out from under the container and into the waiting trap, triggering the familiar fisherman’s call of “Hana pa‘a!” from Aguon-Kona as the trap snapped shut.
Gundersen said the episode started the night before when AnaStasia Lytle, the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, Kaua‘i Parks superintendent, called after being informed by DLNR Boating Division that someone at the harbor was chasing a mongoose.
“Without the reports and help from the Young Brothers crew, the close inter-agency relationships and the helpfulness of community members, we might never have caught the mongoose,” Gundersen said. “Those people knew how important this was and were willing to interrupt their activities to wrangle the animal.”
In KISC’s Kia‘i Moku newsletter, Gundersen declared Kaua‘i to be “officially coqui frog-free.” This followed a long period of work by KISC surveying nearly 10,000 acres, expending 15,114 person-hours and applying 14,214 gallons of citric acid solution after the discovery of a coqui frog breeding population in Lawa‘i in 2001.
The frogs, topping the KISC priority pest list, were accidentally introduced in 1999. After being undetected for two years, the frogs had established a breeding population, Gundersen said in the Kia‘i Moku, which means “guarding the island.”
“We are now coqui-free,” Gundersen said. “Meaning, we don’t have a breeding population, but the community needs to be vigilant.”
Since the declaration, Gundersen said there have been several live captures of coqui frogs. KISC hopes to prevent the pests, which arrive in potted plants, from establishing a breeding population.
KISC continues to receive credible reports of mongoose on Kaua‘i and are following up with interviews and trapping, states a news release.
“We want to do everything we can to prevent introductions of mongoose to Kaua‘i and elsewhere,” said Nathan Kapule, Young Brother’s safety and environmental manager. “We definitely want to collaborate with stakeholders to beef up prevention of inter-island movement of pests.”
Gundersen said since the June 29 incident in Nawiliwili, Young Brothers has set up traps on its O‘ahu port and has captured two mongoose.
Kapule has issued an in-house bulletin about the Nawiliwili capture with protocols for employees statewide regarding mongoose awareness. Additionally, it will partner with other agencies including Hawai‘i Department of Transportation, DLNR, HDOA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and others to work on a statewide Mongoose Management Plan which is currently in draft form, the release states.
“We are trying to paint a more complete picture in regards to possible mongoose population numbers on Kaua‘i,” Gundersen said. “This way, it will be possible to move forward with plans for eradication and protection of high value areas such as bird sanctuaries.” She said the mongoose which was captured in Nawiliwili was humanely euthanized. Tests will be conducted to determine its age, and DNA results will be used to compare it with the specimen caught in May.
Anyone who sights a mongoose is asked to immediately call KISC at 821-1490. Visit www.kauaiisc.org for more information on the Kaua‘i Invasive Species Committee.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
