Another expert
to track Maui catThe state brings in an Arizona
consultant to help snare the beast
WAILUKU >> State wildlife officials are bringing in another expert to snare the mysterious big cat in Upcountry Maui.
State wildlife biologist Fern Duvall said Tuesday an Arizona expert on capturing bears and big cats will be on Maui on Oct. 22-29 to instruct Hawaii workers how to set snares to catch the cat.
Duvall said he hopes results of fur samples will be analyzed before the arrival of the expert from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and help in determining the species of cat roaming in the rural area.
State officials have been waiting since mid-August for the results of the analysis, which could help them determine the kind of scent to use in attracting the big cat to the snares.
William Van Pelt, the Arizona department's nongame mammals program manager, said he had expected the results to be completed in a few weeks by a university professor specializing in DNA cat analysis.
"I'm really disappointed that it's taking this long," Van Pelt said.
One of Van Pelt's colleagues, Deb O'Neill, said earlier this month that the fur did not appear to be the best samples for DNA analysis and the scientist is in the process of trying to "amplify" the DNA.
Wildlife officials have been unable to capture the big cat through using trap cages or get a photograph of the cat with infrared cameras. But they were able to retrieve pieces of fur from a fence and a tree in the vicinity of big-cat sightings.
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.
A 60-pound Labrador retriever outside an Olinda residence survived but suffered wounds consistent with slashes by a big cat on Sept. 7, according to a veterinarian.
A large cat killed a wild 30-pound deer found near a gulch in lower Olinda on July 11, Van Pelt said.
Residents have described the cat as having a 4-foot-long body and a 3 1/2-foot tail, black coat, yellow-green eyes, and a flat face, state officials said.
