Hawaii News Now recently reported that an effort known as the Kahikinui Project to rid Maui of invasive cattle is raising concerns. The idea was to harvest some 2,000 invasive animals, cattle and other ungulates, from the area and turn them into 500,000 pounds of protein. The project is getting pushback from a group of Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) lessees who say the Kahikinui Project’s hunters aren’t harvesting all the meat and leaving carcasses behind to rot. “Leaving the dead carcasses, which attract mongoose, rats, creates a bigger problem with our feral pig issue,” said Napua Hueu of the Kahikinui Game and Land Management Organization. There is also concern over whether the animals are being killed humanely. — WLJ
