ROD THOMPSON / RTHOMPSON@STARBULLETIN.COM
State wildlife biologist Ron Bachman, left, and his assistant Wayne Taka examined Kapono, an injured 'io, or Hawaiian hawk, yesterday. A number of agencies have combined to care for injured birds and get them back in the air.
Aid increased for
injured birds on Big Isle
HILO >> Kapono, a Hawaiian hawk living at Hilo's Panaewa Rain Forest Zoo, is a lucky bird. He survived injuries but became tame, so he was given a permanent home at the zoo.
Around 30 wild predatory birds a year are not lucky, said Ron Bachman, East Hawaii manager for the state Division of Forestry & Wildlife. About that many endangered Hawaiian hawks and owls and nonendangered barn owls are injured and die on the Big Island every year, he said.
Another dozen or so survive with veterinary care but sometimes with a wing or leg amputated, so they cannot return to the wild. The numbers have been increasing, Bachman said.
Now a number of agencies have combined to increase care for the survivors. Three aviaries, walk-in cages, are being placed in a nonpublic area of Hawaii County's Panaewa zoo.
Site preparation is being done by inmates of Kulani Prison. Work by them and Bachman's colleagues plus the county's provision of the site add up to a county and state contribution that matches a $10,000 federal grant for the bird care center.
The zoo is already overwhelmed with injured birds, Bachman said. Care for them is costly, said his assistant Joy Mello. "We have to keep juggling funds to keep up with this," he said.
Birds are kept away from the public because the hope is to return them to the wild, Mello said. "These are wild birds. They're not used to being handled," he said.
Many injuries are accidental. The birds sometimes fly into power lines in areas of new construction, Bachman said.
Some injuries are deliberate. Several years ago, people were finding birds in the Kau District shot with a .22 rifle, Bachman said.
A high school teacher told teenagers it had to stop. The teens knew the person with a telescope on his rifle who was shooting the birds on the wing. With peer pressure the shootings ended.
Most of the injured birds are "hopeless cases" and die, Bachman said.
Those that are healthy enough are given rehabilitation, held in place while they flap their wings and build up strength. "The quicker we let them go, the better," Mello said.
