KILAUEA — Kaua’i police charged a Kaua’i man with trespassing Sunday after he refused to leave the Mokuaeae State Seabird Sanctuary, which is located on a small island near the Kilauea Lighthouse. The man, whose identity had not been released
KILAUEA — Kaua’i police charged a Kaua’i man with trespassing Sunday after he
refused to leave the Mokuaeae State Seabird Sanctuary, which is located on a
small island near the Kilauea Lighthouse.
The man, whose identity had not
been released at press time, had been on the island for three days.
He
swam to the bird refuge on Friday and refused to be airlifted off the rock
Saturday afternoon.
He later swam to shore and was arrested at an
undisclosed location on the North Shore Sunday afternoon, a spokesman at the
Hanalei police substation said.
A three-man, search-and-rescue team aboard
an Air-1 Inter-Island Helicopters aircraft, as well as Kaua’i firefighters,
spotted the nude man in the bird sanctuary at 3:37 p.m. Saturday.
“We tried
to make contact with the gentleman, and each time they approached him, he would
evade the rescuers,” said county firefighter Solomon Kanoho.
The man later
told would-be rescuers he “was on a religious crusade and wanted to be left
alone,” Kanoho said.
“We advised him of the dangers of swimming in the
ocean and around the island, and he refused to be transported off,” Kanoho
said.
“As we approached him, he would flee.”
Shortly after 4 p.m.
Saturday, the helicopter and rescuers left the scene, according to Ken
D’Attilio, owner of Air-1.
The air operation cost $800, but D’Attilio said
he wasn’t going to charge the county.
“I am going to do this one with
aloha,” he said.
According to a ranger at the Kilauea Wildlife Refuge, the
man has swum to the island on a regular basis in the past. The wildlife refuge
is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The state has
jurisdiction over the Mokuaeae sanctuary, which is about two acres in
size.
