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Kokua Line
June Watanabe
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Report of ducks’ demise is premature
Question: Where have all the ducks in Hawaii Kai gone? There were 30 to 50 of them living at the intersection of Kalanianaole Highway and Hawaii Kai Drive. Suddenly, there are none.
Answer: There are still many, many ducks around Hawaii Kai, even though up to 100 have been removed because of safety concerns within the past year.
"I was heading toward Kahala this weekend, and I saw a ton of them" on the island near the intersection, Beverly Liddell, manager of the Hawaii Kai Marina, told us last week. "They're wild and go wherever the feeding is good."
Unfortunately, it is feeding by people that has caused a problem.
On the other side of the island is a feral cat colony, Liddell explained. "People were feeding the feral cats, and the ducks were crossing the street" to get to the food.
Unfortunately, that resulted in drivers "running over the ducks." Bad enough for the ducks, but because of an incline along the roadway, unsuspecting drivers often have had to slam on their brakes.
There have been "a couple of car accidents, a couple of dangerous situations," caused by the duck crossings, Liddell said.
But it's not just the food left out for feral cats that can put the ducks in danger. "It's a lot of factors," including well-meaning people feeding the ducks from the sidewalk, Liddell said.
Her advice: "Please don't feed them by the street. I was going to put a sign out saying, 'Please don't feed the ducks,' but that seems kind of cold.
"There are little kids out there (feeding them), and it's such a neat thing, in a beautiful community, to see," she said. "But when (the ducks) started getting killed, we got worried. And we don't want anyone to get hurt."
Marina officials decided the best thing was "to try to cull out a bunch of them. ... They were so tame, we were able to capture 80 to 100 of them."
Fortunately, they found two farmers who would take them. "One has a taro farm out in Waiahole, and he said they eat the bugs off the taro," Liddell said. Another flock went to a farm in Kaneohe.
But there is no shortage of the ducks, she assures you.
"They are very migratory," she said. "There are some up by the farms. ... They come up from Paiko Lagoon. ... They're just spread out all over."
Auwe
To the driver of a Ford vehicle who tried to merge into my lane on the H-1 freeway offramp near Star of the Sea Church in Kahala without looking or using a signal on Saturday, Oct. 15. By the time I noticed what he was doing, I had to swerve into the right lane, then scoot back to avoid hitting him and other motorists. He then had the nerve to follow me into Kahala Mall, stop me in the parking lot and glare at me when he was the one in the wrong. He left after he saw my husband with me and our young son. It's drivers like this who make it difficult to drive with aloha. -- No Name
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