Expert says fur not best
identifier of Maui creature
An Arizona state official said yesterday fur samples believed to have come from a big cat on Maui are not the best samples to determine the species of the animal.
Deb O'Neill, a coordinator with the non-game branch of Arizona's Game and Fish Department, said when she saw the fur samples, they did not appear to have hair follicles.
But O'Neill said DNA from the hair may still be extracted and help to determine the species of cat.
O'Neill said a scientist has been working with the fur samples in hopes of getting DNA samples that would help to determine the species .
She said the scientist is in the process of trying to "amplify" the DNA and trying "more tricks" to determine the species.
"These samples are not the best samples," she said.
O'Neill said the scientist plans to give the division an update tomorrow .
Government wildlife officials have been waiting to find out the species of cat to develop better plans to trap the animal. State wildlife biologist Fern Duvall said the plan is to get an expert to assist in setting foot snares this month to capture the animal.
Duvall said he thought the results of the fur test would be completed in two weeks but the analysis has taken longer and the wait for DNA results is taking several weeks.
Wildlife officials have removed trap cages from Olinda because they have been unsuccessful in capturing the cat. Duvall said motion-sensitive cameras are still being used in the wilderness in an attempt to get a photograph of the animal.
Olinda residents have described the cat as having a 4-foot-long body and a 3 1/2-foot long tail, black coat, yellow-green eyes, and a flat face, state officials said.
The latest sightings in the past two weeks still place the big cat in Olinda, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Arizona cat expert William Van Pelt, who visited Maui in mid-August, said he was confident the animal was a large cat and could be a young adult mountain lion, leopard or jaguar.
Van Pelt said a large cat killed a wild 30-pound deer found near a gulch in lower Olinda on July 11.
