• Bike path • Violence is not the answer • Beware bird flu Bike path The bike, pedestrian path on our shoreline, I think, is a brilliant idea! What an ecological, alternative transportation investment in our future. With gas prices
• Bike path
• Violence is not the answer
• Beware bird flu
Bike path
The bike, pedestrian path on our shoreline, I think, is a brilliant idea! What an ecological, alternative transportation investment in our future. With gas prices skyrocketing, alternative transportation is necessary. What a wonderful use of land to benefit Kauaians and visitors. It will give us access to our beautiful scenic island coast.
As private development devours our ‘aina at an alarming rate, with gated community mentality, we must move fast to establish public access to our coastline and public lands. I commend you for this plan. May it continue. Condo owners don’t want any Kauaians round THEIR shoreline view. They say path construction endangers the animals and coast. What about all your condos! All your lawn chemicals and pesticides! Get real! This is four our future generations only the rich can afford petroleum vehicles. The path is for the people I also recommend solar, windpower as viable energy solutions.
Violence is not the answer
The person who shot an arrow through the beautiful rooster near Kolo Road in Kilauea, Sunday, 9/18, hit the mark. It’s been feeding for two weeks in our yard with the arrow embedded through the center of its body. Today my husband succeeded in humanely trapping it.
The Kauai Humane Society is outstanding in helping us reduce the chicken population in our neighborhood. Not only have they provided a humane trap but stop by daily to pick up each bird we are able to catch. Officers Chris and Barbara are to be commended for their professionalism and courtesy in responding to our calls.
Yes, we have a large population of chickens and roosters in Kilauea and they can be annoying to many. We applaud the Kauai Humane Society for providing a kind and gentle way to help us resolve this issue. Patience and teamwork is the key.
Beware bird flu
Most of your readers are probably aware of the bird flu. It is transmitted from bird to human at this time. A growing number of those infected have died and there is no effective treatment for the remaining patients. As we watch TV news, it appears that chickens are the major threat because they live in close quarters with humans. Hundreds of thousands of chickens have been destroyed in a vain attempt to eliminate or reduce the threat. So far, these efforts could best be described as reactive, meaning that the illness appeared but nothing was done until now. How does all of this concern those of us in paradise?
We need to recognize that at this time there is no magic drug that will protect us. We also need to be aware that there is a significant probability that the bird flu will mutate into a new form of the flu that can be transmitted from human to human. Experts in epidemiology predict a pandemic is very likely should this mutation occur. The word pandemic is rarely used. It means a worldwide threat that could make the hurricanes pale in comparison. We lucky people that live on Kaua’i have two choices as to how we will deal with this threat. The first path we could follow would be to do nothing at this time (because the bird flu has not hit Hawai’i …yet). If and when that should occur, we could rely on our leaders to generate a plan that would hopefully address this threat. This would constitute a reactive approach. Considering the length of time required to actually take action, this approach makes me very afraid!
The second approach would be proactive. This means we would begin immediately to take action to prevent, rather than treat, the flu. What action would we take? I hope it is obvious to anyone on Kaua’i (even for one day tourists) that there are thousands of wild chickens that live in our yards, trees, forests, etc. Even if we decided to destroy chickens, it is not realistic to think we would prevail. Another possibility (that has problems), would be to search for a food that would sterilize any chicken that ate it. If we all had a supply of this food, we might at least be able to clear the area near our homes , beaches, etc.
I hope this letter will cause us to consider what to do…reactive or proactive.
