Alien animals
changing Hawaii’s
landscape
Legal and illegal critters are thriving
By Trish Moore
on native plants and animals here
Star-BulletinLarry Nakahara says Hawaii will look very different 20 years from now because of legal and illegal animals. Nakahara, the manager of the state's plant quarantine branch, notes the legal apple snail is eating its way through Kauai and Maui taro. Legal parrots may soon be snatching fruit from backyard trees, and Jackson chameleons are eating native snails and insects.
"The thing that's sad to me is that a lot of these problems are changing the whole landscape of Hawaii. It's happening very slowly and people are having a hard time noticing," Nakahara said.
Add to that an influx of illegal critters, and Nakahara shudders.
"Hawaii is a paradise for pests," Nakahara said. "And when the serious pests come in, it won't be a paradise for people anymore."
Exotic animals like snakes and lizards don't pose much of a problem on the mainland because if they escape, they'll get eaten by a hawk or other mammal -- or they won't survive the weather.
But in Hawaii, where there are virtually no predators and year-round balmy weather, they survive and breed.
Island residents risk a lot -- a $25,000 fine and a year in jail -- if they're caught harboring illegal animals.
But officials say the influx continues.
The 3-1/2-foot monitor lizard caught at a beach near Waimanalo last month was likely smuggled in by a resident, Nakahara said.
"They do it because it's trendy," he said. And because it's pretty easy to tuck a hedgehog, snake or lizard into a coat pocket and carry it undetected on a plane.
It's not only illegal animals damaging the state's natural resources.
Examples abound of animals legally brought into the islands now causing major "humbug," Nakahara said.
Take the apple snail. Originally imported as an aquarium pet, they became a delicacy -- a kind of cheap alternative to escargot.
Harry Ako, a University of Hawaii biochemist, said the problems began when a taro grower thought the snails would make a profitable second crop and thew a handful into the stream near the taro loi thinking they'd multiply on their own -- which they did, faster than rabbits.
The snail's predilection for the native staple coupled with the speed at which it multiplies and consumes taro has been a serious threat to taro growers statewide.
"Oh, the devastation," said Awapuhi Carmicheal, secretary of Na Moku Aupuni o Ko'olau Hui in Keanae, Maui.
Pet parrots also have made their way into the wild, either escaping or being turned loose by owners.
"We see them now and they just seem like pretty birds flying around," Nakahara said.
"But when the population grows -- and it will -- in 20 years we're going to be saying 'those (damned parrots).'"
People may have to build "scareparrots" to prevent them from snitching fruit from backyard trees, or develop a parrot pesticide to keep the fruit industry afloat.
Jackson chameleons were also introduced in Hawaii as pets 20 years ago.
They are now established in the wild on all islands. The mid-elevation, forest-dwelling lizards eat native snails and insects.
Nakahara sees native snails becoming extinct and native plants dying out because the insects that pollinate them are being eaten.
The state has an amnesty program to encourage residents to voluntarily turn in their illegal animals, no questions asked, no penalties assessed.
To report an alien pest, or for a list of prohibited animals, call the Pest Hotline at 586-7378 from Oahu and 800-468-4644-67378 from the neighbor islands.
