ROD THOMPSON / RTHOMPSON@STARBULLETIN.COM Sarah Anne Sanders, 4, in a blue shirt, and her cousin Casey Chow, 5, fed ducks and geese at Hilo's Waiakea Pond on Friday.

Hilo plan to preserve
habitat means
ducks get the boot

Abandoned pet ducks and geese
will be caught and relocated

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By Treena Shapiro
tshapiro@starbulletin.com

Pet ducks and geese abandoned at the Wailoa State Park in Hilo make it difficult to attract native and migratory birds to the pond, according to a state official.

The big domestic birds compete for food, carry parasites, leave unpleasant droppings and sometimes attack humans, said Ron Bachman, district wildlife manager for the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

So when the neighboring Waiakea Villas asked for the state's help in removing the ducks and geese from the hotel property, DLNR took advantage of the opportunity.

Last week, state workers swooped up about 20 ducks and geese in nets to give away to new owners, Bachman said.

It isn't hard to place the domestic birds in new homes, especially since they eat coqui frogs, slugs, snails and other pests, Bachman said.

"They're pretty good at cleaning out a farm," Bachman said.

Clearing out the domestic birds makes the habitat friendlier for native birds such as endangered Hawaiian stilts, moorhens, Koloa ducks and nene geese.

It also makes it more attractive for migrating birds, such as Cackling Geese, Aleutian Geese, Lesser White-Fronted Geese and Great Blue Heron.

The state has been using a $27,000 federal grant to enhance the habitat.

In addition to removing the domestic birds, the state is also trying to control the rat and mongoose population and clear out the vegetation around the edges of the pond so that the birds can get out of the water.

State crews have also isolated three areas that will keep out predators, including the "night stalkers" who shoot the birds with bows and arrows, Bachman said.

Bachman emphasized that only the domestic birds that wander onto private property risk being moved.

The state has no plans to interfere with the people who feed the ducks and geese at the park, he said, adding that some people come by to feed the birds daily.

"We're not after those guys," Bachman said. "We recognize that it's a fun thing."

The state does remove sickly and aggressive birds from the park, however.

Bachman said that the big 13- to 14-pound geese sometimes attack children when they stop feeding them.

"They can give you some good whacks and they'll bite and twist," he said.

He described how his co-worker Joey Mello once saved a boy who was being attacked by a flock of geese.