Mystery deer threaten environment in Hawaii

Deer can swim, but not very far. So when they showed up for the first time on the Big Island of Hawaii, mystified residents wondered how they got there. The island is some 30 miles southeast of Maui, where deer are plentiful. Hawaii wildlife authorities think someone dropped a few deer from a helicopter on the island’s northern tip. And tracks along the southern coast indicate deer were pushed into the ocean from a boat and forced to paddle ashore. Whether they arrived by air or sea, wildlife managers want to eradicate them to avoid a repeat of the destruction seen on other islands where deer ate through vineyards, avocado farms and forests where endangered species live. Officials estimate there are 100 deer on the northern and southern ends of the Big Island. A government-funded group is leading efforts to get rid of them before they breed. Axis deer, called chital in their native India, are similar in size to whitetail deer found in the continental U.S. Tigers and leopards keep axis deer numbers reasonable in India, but the deer population is growing 20 percent to 30 percent annually in Hawaii because there aren’t any natural predators — except for humans. The deer first came to Hawaii in the 1860s as a gift from Hong Kong to the monarch who ruled at the time, King Kamehameha V. They were first taken to Molokai Island...more