Kailua-Kona
Hunting
Running out of pigs?
Why do hunters fear losing hunting areas to the proposed Puu Makaala NAR (Natural Area Reserve) at Kulani? Four thousand acres of the NAR will remain open to hunting — plus 60,000 acres of nearby forest reserve.
Why do they fear of running out of game? For European mouflon, hunters tend to kill males, leaving the females, who have babies. Feral pigs reproduce so fast you can remove two out of five from a small enclosed area every year, and never run out of pigs. This per a local wildlife biologist.
It’s well known that pigs, goats and sheep wreak havoc on native ecosystems and watersheds. Remember at a July 2010 hearing, eight out of 10 people supported the NAR.
I have nothing against hunting for food. But the evidence points to far more risk of running out of native species than running out of pigs.
Cory (Martha) Harden
Occupied Hawaii
Mountain View
Response
Food emergency real
In a recent letter, Mr. Glenn Johansen expressed his concern that there might be abuse of taxpayer money if we are not diligent in administering the funds we all provided to the Food Basket. Where’s his concern about the reasons for this “food emergency” (his quotation marks). The implication of the quotation marks is this might not be a true emergency, and that we may not have the money in case there is a real one.
Increasing property taxes to help feed the poor is seen by Mr. Johansen as a “moral hazard.” I see not feeding the poor as a “moral hazard.” The local economy is obviously going through a difficult time and there is a long tradition here of helping our neighbors — remember aloha. Has Mr. Johansen ever donated cash or food stuff to help the problem, or is he just worried somebody might get some free food?
Go out in the community and volunteer to help feed these people and see if the need is legit.
Donald Gross
Kailua-Kona