Three experts and an eye witness yesterday launched kayaks into the Hanalei River to try to track down a snake spotted that afternoon — the fourth reported sighting there since March. “A snake flew out of the tree and splashed
Three experts and an eye witness yesterday launched kayaks into the Hanalei River to try to track down a snake spotted that afternoon — the fourth reported sighting there since March.
“A snake flew out of the tree and splashed into the water,” said 16-year-old Paulina Michel, of Princeville.
“Then we started paddling really hard to get away.”
Demonstrating with her hands outstretched about 3-feet apart from each other, 8-year-old Pearl Cuevas described her version of what she saw.
“It was about this big,” she gestured.
Though Hawaiian officials scour aircraft for the invasive species and take other, serious precautions to keep the state snake-free, the threat of the existence of the brown tree snake on Kaua‘i is a real one.
The brown tree snake is a nocturnal and arboreal snake that, after World War II, was introduced to Guam by what state Department of Agriculture officials maintain was likely trafficked via military cargo returning from use in the war in New Guinea. The species’ rapid spread throughout the island resulted in the extinction of nine of the island’s 12 forest birds and half of its lizards.
It is with that in mind that Department of Agriculture officials are taking action to prevent what could be a drastic change to the fragile balance of Kaua‘i’s ecosystem.
Michel and Cuevas said they were about a mile from Hanalei Bay on their return to the Kayak Kaua‘i port when they saw the snakelike creature slither away under the water around 1:30 p.m.
The pair — along with Michel’s 8-year-old sister Jolene, who was trailing in a kayak with her father — reported the sighting to authorities immediately upon their return.
State officials from the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources and Agriculture, Ed Pickop and Al Silva, along with Invasive Species Committee member Eric Twedt, arrived around 4 p.m. at the Kayak Kaua‘i office. They brought with them a “snake sighting interview kit.”
The experts asked the witnesses questions using different sizes of polyvinyl chloride pipe, rope and pictures to attempt to identify the snake.
Rain hampered efforts to kayak to the spot where the girls saw the snake, but Paulina said she was eventually able to show the experts the approximate location.
“They got out and looked for tracks but didn’t find anything,” she said.
The officials plan to return soon to further investigate.
“We’re not messing around. We take this very seriously,” Pickop said.
After an alleged snake was spotted two weeks ago, DLNR officials posted signs on the Kayak Kaua‘i office in Hanalei asking all sightings be reported.
“It was a very interesting, action-packed day,” Paulina said. “Beware the snakes.”
In an ongoing effort to keep the snakes from hitchhiking to Hawai‘i in military planes, ships and cargo, Sen. Daniel Inouye has been working to include a Guam-based snake inspection process onto the annual defense spending bill.
