Among scientists, there is no disagreement over the fact that feral ungulates in Hawai`i wreak devastation on native plants, whether the animals at issue are pigs in the rain forest or sheep and goats in the dryland shrub. In recent years, however, hunters have attempted to dispute that, claiming that pigs’ rutting in the rainforest actually helps the environment and that ungulates’ browsing in the dry areas diminishes the fuel load and thus minimizes the potential impact of fires. Neither claim is scientifically supportable.
Another claim the hunters put forward is that they have a cultural right to hunt. This claim, not subject to scientific challenge in the same way as the claims of ungulate damage, has been among the more persuasive arguments put forward by the hunters, although it, too, appears to break down in light of established historical fact.
Kepa Maly, a Hawaiian historian and cultural expert, participated in several of the meetings. In letters to Lieutenant Colonel Lloyd E. Mues, commander of Pohakuloa Training Area, Maly argued strongly against the view that hunting of ungulates was in keeping with Hawaiian cultural traditions.
In one letter, dated October 28, Maly noted that goats, sheep, European boar, and cattle are all “foreign to the native Hawaiian landscape and culture.” Contrary to hunters’ arguments against fencing, the Hawaiians themselves used fences to create enclosures to protect native resources, Maly wrote. The Hawaiian pig, he pointed out, was traditionally raised and fattened in enclosures.
Maly suggested Mues could “safely follow a traditional Hawaiian approach” by employing fencing to protect valuable resources (as Hawaiians of old did) and by allowing hunting in “areas that have already been impacted beyond repair.” “For native Hawaiians and all the people of Hawai`i, the loss of each native species is a loss that not only diminishes who we are, but it also steals from our past and our future,” Maly wrote.
Striking a Balance
Similar arguments were put forward by `Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi, a group that was formed to protect Hawaiian biodiversity and cultural heritage. Benton Keali`i Pang, the group’s president, wrote Mues in November, pointing out once more differences between traditional Hawaiian values and practices, on the one hand, and those of modern hunters, on the other.
Traditional Hawaiian conservation values, Pang wrote, “recognize that a) not everyone was allowed to enter forested areas called wao akua (‘domain of the gods’), b) only those specialists who knew the religious protocol were allowed to enter these areas, and c) in gathering any resource there was a sense of giving back, either to the land itself or the ocean.”
“We believe that subsistence hunting of feral ungulates by native Hawaiians is NOT a traditional and customary right and therefore not protected under the state constitution or Hawai`i Revised Statutes,” Pang continued. “There is no evidence that pigs were hunted in ancient times. The Hawaiian diet was not dependent on pigs and they were only eaten for important occasions or as offerings to gods.”
Pang listed the diverse cultural resources “linked to natural resources” at Pohakuloa. “In addition to the archaeological sites,” he said, “plant resources provide valuable woods, fiber, and medicine to Hawaiians to this day…. The `akoko and `aweoweo shrublands were types of pharmacies to Hawaiians where these medicinal plants were collected and made into various types of medicines. These subalpine forests, being habitats for forest birds such as `i`iwi, `apapane, `o`o, and pueo were used by Hawaiians for collecting bird feathers used to make beautiful feather cloaks and capes worn by ali`i.”
“Rare plant species and their habitats on the [Army] installation are critically endangered,” Pang concluded. “These areas should be fenced immediately and seed stock collected to expand their habitats.”
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 7, Number 7 January 1997
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