There are some who want to eradicate the nice, helpless feral cats on our island. I guess they just want to scoop them all up and euthanize them.
There are some who want to eradicate the nice, helpless feral cats on our island. I guess they just want to scoop them all up and euthanize them.
There are many who would have a similar solution for all the feral people on this island, the ones we call homeless.
Yes, feral cats cause problems and so do mongooses and rats. They say wild goats and sheep mess things up and should be eliminated. Mosquitoes, ants, termites and mice all have to go. They even shoot beautiful deer from helicopters, they must have looked far and wide for a person sadistic enough to do that.
But there is an invasive species here, an animal that causes bigger problems than all of these. It is right under our noses and in front of our face, literally.
It was introduced by unthinking people, brought here years ago slipping off cargo and passenger ships and has massively proliferated on the Kona side and elsewhere ever since.
It carries horrible diseases, communicable even to its own species, and its diseases have been the cause of countless deaths in Hawaii.
It has done more damage to our environment than all the feral cats and rodents and flying things combined. Even more than those despicable deer.
The elimination of its waste products kill valuable plants and even other local species, and even when it crudely tries to curtail its own habits, it injures even more plants and animals.
Most other species peacefully co-exist, the cats calmly lick their paws, and rats sleep happily all day, and goats graze beside each other in the noonday sun. This dangerous species constantly turns on its own, killing each other sometimes for no reason at all.
Science is baffled about this, it is dangerous even to itself. It is amazing it has existed as long as it has.
And the menace is still here, it cannot be eradicated and will continue to flourish causing its senseless destruction. It is beginning to threaten the feral cat population. This is ironic since this species is far worse than the cats or anything else here.
The Latin name for this species is Homo sapien, commonly called human being. To locate it in your house, look in the mirror. The cartoon character Pogo described it best when he said, “We have found the enemy and it is us.”
Dennis Gregory is a writer, artist, singer, teacher and Kailua-Kona resident who mixes truth, humor and aloha in his biweekly column. He can be reached at makewavess@yahoo.com