By TOM CALLIS
Tribune-Herald staff writer
The fight has begun.
Hunters hired by the Big Island Invasive Species Committee bagged their first axis deer last Wednesday on the southern end of the island, signaling the start of an effort to eliminate their small but potentially destructive population.
The deer, originally from south Asia, is notorious on other islands for overgrazing forests and grassland, frustrating ranchers and conservationists alike.
They were introduced to Oahu and Molokai in 1868 for sport hunting, and later to Maui and Lanai.
Jan Schipper, BIISC manager, said they were likely introduced to the Big Island for the same reason within the last few years. He estimated their numbers, based on reported sightings, at between 50 and 100.
The first confirmed sighting was reported last May.
Schipper said the committee, with help from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, is trying to strike early before they become too numerous to combat.
And there’s reason to be vigilant.
Without natural predators, their populations can easily get out of control.
Maui alone is home to about 12,000, where the drought-hardy animals find easy access to crops and ranch land.
“If you want to look at a future with sustainable agricultural economy, the deer are going to make sure that’s not going to happen,” Schipper said.
Tim Richards, Hawaii Cattlemen’s Association president, said ranchers are fully aware of the danger, and support efforts to get rid of the deer.
“We just got to keep vigilant on them,” he said.
“The potential to blow up is huge.”
Schipper declined to say where the deer was killed, other than somewhere on the south end of the island, to prevent interference with the committee’s two hunters.
He noted that the deer have also been reported in Kohala and near the base of Mauna Kea.
The hunters enter private property with permission, Schipper said.
Despite the problem being well known elsewhere in the state, it didn’t become illegal to transport them to the Big Island until late last year.
The Hawaii County Council in November passed a bill outlawing their presence outside of the Pana‘ewa Rainforst Zoo.
Council Chairman Dominic Yagong, who introduced the bill, said it came in response to concerns from the invasive species committee and other groups over their spread to the island.
“This is a situation that we have to nip in the bud early,” he said.
Yagong said a ban was likely not introduced earlier because the risks to the island had yet to be highlighted.
“Until this is brought forward with facts and information, how can you act upon it?” he said.
The county has been quicker to act than the state in preventing their cross-island migration.
A Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman said there is no state law preventing the deer from being transported from island to island, noting that jurisdictional issues between the agency and state Department of Agriculture have been a problem.
But that may soon change.
The state House and Senate recently passed legislation, Senate Bill 3001, banning transportation of wild deer between the islands.
Leaders from both chambers are expected to meet to resolve amendments before sending it to Gov. Neal Abercrombie to be signed into law.
Sen. Gilbert Kahele, who represents District 2 on the Big Island, was one of the sponsors.
To report a suspected axis deer sighting, phone 443-4036.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
