Goats shot from copter
in effort to save plants

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

There are 42 fewer goats today on steep slopes in high elevations of Makua Valley.

A helicopter crew shot 36 goats yesterday morning and six yesterday afternoon with a 12-gauge shotgun in an Army effort to save endangered plants from destructive grazing.

Estimates put the number of remaining live goats at from eight to 28.

Twenty-nine types of endangered plants grow in Makua Valley, which has been used for live-fire exercises since World War II. Last year, live-fire training in Makua was suspended as study of environmental concerns continued.

A three-man team -- pilot, observer and gunner -- made the separate morning and afternoon helicopter runs. Also, three spotters worked high up on the slopes. The plan had been put on temporary hold earlier at the request of Waianae community members. They asked the Army to first try to herd goats over a ridge to an adjacent state game preserve. But efforts to herd the goats from the air in the steep, high, inaccessible terrain were unsuccessful.

In yesterday's "trial hunt," the pilot and helicopter were certified by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The observer and gunner also were Department of the Interior employees.

They chose to remain anonymous, said Steve Kim, Oahu natural resources manager, Directorate of Public Works, U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, based at Wheeler Army Air Field.

"We have an endangered tree snail and one endangered bird and one bird that's proposed for endangered status," in addition to the plants, Kim said. "These plants and animals are what we call native and endemic to Hawaii. ... They came here either over the ocean or on the wind. Sometimes the seed might be stuck to a bird, the bird's feathers, or something like that. ... They're rare and endangered species, and that's why we're trying to save them. The federal Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to conserve and preserve these species.

"The goats eat the vegetation," Kim said. "They can eat the endangered plants. They can eat the other plants that perhaps tree snails and birds rely on and they cause erosion.

"What we're doing here is a trial because we want to have as many techniques as are available to us to control the threat of goats. We want to eliminate all the goats out of the valley eventually.

"We've been shooting goats here for the last four years or so."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture shot goats from the ground before yesterday's helicopter action. "This is another technique from the air," Kim said.

Radio-collared goats have served as Judas goats, he added. "They herd with the other goats and we're able to hone in on them with radio signals -- directionally find them. That way, we can get the other goats and get the last ones in the valley," Kim said.

Carcasses of slain goats are left to rot. The inaccessible terrain and dangers from unexploded ordnance allow no other choice, Kim said.