Department of Agriculture

NR16-12
Oct. 11, 2016

LIVE MONGOOSE CAPTURED AT KAUAI AIRPORT

HONOLULU — A live mongoose was captured at Lihue Airport on Kauai early this morning after it was seen running out of an Aloha Air Cargo shipment of bread from Oahu. The mongoose subsequently ran to the neighboring Hawaiian Airlines cargo area and was reported to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA) on Kauai at about 5:45 a.m. Airline personnel cornered the animal and monitored it until HDOA staff arrived.

The Kauai Invasive Species Committee (KISC) was called and provided animal traps. Together, airline, KISC and HDOA staff corralled and captured the mongoose at about 8:00 a.m. The mongoose has been humanely euthanized by KISC.

HDOA animal traps have been sent from Oahu to Kauai and set in the airport area. Staff will continue to monitor the area for other possible hitchhiking mongoose. Anyone spotting a mongoose on Kauai should call HDOA’s Plant Quarantine office at (808) 241-7135 or the state’s toll-free pest hotline at 643-PEST (7378).

Although there have been reports of mongoose sightings on Kauai, only two mongoose have been captured on Kauai in 2012. One at Nawiliwili Harbor and the other near a resort in Lihue. Mongoose are established on Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Hawaii Island and are a threat to native ground-nesting birds.

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