Gov. Josh Green said Monday he’s dispatching Department of Land and Natural Resources Director Dawn Chang to the Big Island today “to work out a peaceful solution” between DLNR, owners and mangers of the Queen’s Marketplace, and feral cat advocates who feed the felines behind the Waikoloa Beach shopping center.
“I’ve asked the director to not fine or apply those fines to anyone who was cited, so that will be taken care of,” Green said during a livestreamed interview. “Also, we’re going to try to find a way to take care of food and water in a very controlled way … so cats don’t suffer.
“But I do need to remind people that feral cats, overall, shouldn’t be fed. They are an invasive species, and we are protecting nene, which are very dear to us. That is our state bird, and they’re endangered. So, we have federal laws that tell us we cannot … endanger the nene. And that is something we have no control over, but I do want to always protect the goose, our native goose.”
Green was referring to two women who were cited April 18 during a protest by feral cat activists in Waikoloa.
The women, who haven’t been identified by DLNR, were part of a group of about 50 in the shopping center’s rear parking lot protesting a decision by property owner Alexander &Baldwin to remove feeding stations after a warning from the DLNR that cat food was attracting nene.
According to the DLNR, feeding the cats affects the natural behaviors of nene and brings them into close contact with feral cats, people, mongoose and roads. This can lead to separation from their natural environment and reliance on feeding stations.
Cats are also known carriers of toxoplasmosis, an infection fatal to nene.
The West Hawaii nonprofit Abaykitties has managed the feeding stations and cat colony while also attempting to trap, spay and neuter the felines and release them.
Dawn Garlinghouse, the organization’s director, said she doesn’t know if the women cited by DLNR have been contacted by the governor’s office. She added if they’re not being fined, “that’s fantastic, but obviously, we’d like something in writing.”
“We need a piece of paper that says they don’t need to go to that court date or whatever needs to be done to absolve them,” Garlinghouse said. “Because I don’t think (Green) saying it on a (livestream) is enough for them to not go to court.”
According to Garlinghouse, Abaykitties has removed the feeding stations as Alexander &Baldwin assured DLNR would happen.
Garlinghouse said the reason the nene “are out there in that barren, desolate, horrible parking lot” is “they are starving.”
“And they are in danger,” she said. “There are cars; there are people. And they are starving because the Waikoloa Beach Resort does not have enough habitat for the volume of nene that we have. And they’re out there looking for places to eat. That’s how they found the cat food.”
The issue isn’t just “a managed cat colony,” according to Garlinghouse, it’s “why are the nene seeking out a desolate parking lot?”
“I’m hoping Dawn Chang can come up with some sort of resolution,” Garlinghouse said. “We have offered evening feeding (of cats) after the nene have gone, because they don’t live at Queen’s (Marketplace). They just fly in. They go back to wherever it is they nest or roost. … But they’re not there. They don’t live there. They don’t sleep there.
“Both Fish and Wildlife and DLNR have said, yes, an excellent deterrent for nenes was to feed (cats) not during the day. We’ve also offered to build nene-proof feeding stations so the food can be left out all night long with no fear the nene would be there the next morning looking for scraps.
“I’m hoping they’ll accept one of these possible resolutions, and not just allow the cats to die of starvation and dehydration.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.