Aerial Hunting Lawsuit: In 2012, the Hawai`i County Council, bowing to hunter pressure, passed a law that prohibits the killing of animals from the air. The following year, a federal judge ruled that the state of Hawai`i, which is under a federal court order to remove sheep and goats from palila critical habitat on Mauna Kea, did not have to comply with that law and could continue to hunt from helicopters.
That ruling, however, only pertained to aerial hunting in palila critical habitat, and left the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and its contractors vulnerable to prosecution under the Hawai`i County ordinance.
In November, the DLNR filed a lawsuit in 3rd Circuit Court, asking the court to issue a ruling finding that state employees and contractors conducting aerial hunts to protect other important natural areas are similarly exempt from prosecution under not just the county ordinance, but also a state law, passed in 2010, that bans aerial hunts except when ordered by a court or to carry out “emergency animal disease control.”
According to the lawsuit, in February 2013, the state attempted to negotiate an agreement with Hawai`i County prosecutors that would immunize state employees and state contractors engaged in aerial hunts outside of palila critical habitat from prosecution under both the county and state laws. No agreement was reached, it goes on to say, and as a result, the lawsuit was filed.
On December 17, before a courtroom packed with hunters, Judge Glenn Hara dismissed the lawsuit.
… Meanwhile, Palila Decline: Even if the state had prevailed in its lawsuit against the county, even if it can find the funds needed to continue aerial hunts in palila critical habitat, newly published research suggests that the state’s approach to ungulate control won’t be sufficient to reverse or even slow the decline of the palila.
In a paper that appears in the November 2014 edition of the journal Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, a team of scientists and wildlife managers led by Paul Banko report that since a landmark federal court ruling in 1979 requiring the state to eradicate sheep and goats from palila critical habitat (PCH) high on Mauna Kea, the population of ungulates has ballooned. In 2000, for example, the report’s authors estimate that the total number of sheep in PCH was somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000. By 2012, it ranged between 10,000 and 14,000.
Sheep are not the only threat to the palila. “Annual population estimates of palila were significantly related to drought severity,” the authors write, “and drought has been the main proximate factor driving population decline in the palila since 2000. Mamane seed production is sharply reduced during drought, explaining the palila’s decline. Even so, the ultimate factor eroding carrying capacity has been long-term browsing by sheep.”
What’s more, restoration of palila critical habitat seems to be low on the list of management priorities, they write. “Activities occurring frequently in PCH are game hunting, all-terrain and four-wheel-drive vehicle touring, enduro dirt bike racing, ecotourism, cultural gathering and observance, scientific research, and wildlife management. Helicopters also transit the air space over PCH for tourism and military high-elevation flight training. Our analyses suggest that palila recovery has not been the highest priority in this mixed management regime.”
“The palila population is rapidly and unambiguously trending toward extinction,” the authors conclude, “but measures to reverse the decline have been slow to develop and their effectiveness has been diluted by conflicting management priorities and unsupportive policies…. If the palila joins the long list of other extinct Hawaiian forest birds, it will not be due to a lack of understanding of its threats or uncertainty about the actions needed for its protection.”
To read the article online, go to: www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1657/1938-4246-46.4.871
Volume 25, Number 7 January 2015