HONOLULU — A ferret captured in Hilo, Big Island, Sunday has been shipped off to O‘ahu, where it is waiting for deportation. In a separate incident, a juvenile snake was killed in Honolulu after being hit by a weed-whacker Wednesday
HONOLULU — A ferret captured in Hilo, Big Island, Sunday has been shipped off to O‘ahu, where it is waiting for deportation. In a separate incident, a juvenile snake was killed in Honolulu after being hit by a weed-whacker Wednesday morning.
The Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture on Thursday identified as a bullsnake the two-foot-long snake weed-whacked to death in Honolulu at about 8:45 a.m on Wednesday.
A landscaping crew from a private company was cutting grass in an area by Nimitz Highway and Valkenburg Avenue, near Honolulu Airport, when the snake was injured by a weed-whacker, according to an HDOA press release.
The snake died soon after. The crew called police and HDOA inspectors, who retrieved the dead snake.
“The snake has been identified as a male bullsnake (Pituophis catenifer sayi), which is a subspecies of the gopher snake,” HDOA spokeswoman Janelle Saneishi said on Thursday. “From the size of the snake, it is believed to be a juvenile.”
Bullsnakes are non-venomous. They are found in North America and may grow up to about six feet. Their diet consists of small rodents, young rabbits, lizards, birds and their eggs. Prey is killed by constriction and suffocation.
Snakes and large lizards are illegal in Hawai‘i, where they have no natural predators, according to HDOA. Those animals pose a serious threat to the islands’ environment because they compete with native animal for food and habitat. Many species also prey on birds and their eggs, increasing the threat to Hawai‘i’s endangered native bird
Luckier ferret
On Sunday a Big Island resident captured a ferret after seeing it come out of a parked moped in the parking lot of Coqui’s Hideaway Restaurant & Sports Bar in Hilo, Big Island, the HDOA stated in a press release Wednesday.
The ferret was turned in to the Hawai‘i Island Humane Society later that day and then turned over to the HDOA office in Hilo on Monday. On Tuesday the ferret was flown to Honolulu and is now being safeguarded at HDOA’s Plant Quarentine Branch, where it may be used for educational purposes until it can be shipped out of the state, according to HDOA.
Ferrets are prohibited as pets under state law because they are potential carriers of the rabies virus. Although ferrets have been domesticated as pets outside of Hawai‘i, there have been numerous instances where these animals have reverted back to their feral state, the HDOA states. Attacks on infants and young children have been reported and have resulted in some states restricting the importation and possession of these animals.
The state’s Amnesty Program allows illegal animals to be turned in and provides immunity from prosecution. Illegal animals may be turned in to any HDOA Office or the Humane Society — no questions asked and no fines assessed. Animals turned in under amnesty will not be euthanized.
The maximum penalty under state law for possessing and/or transporting illegal animals is a class C felony, $200,000 fine and up to three years in prison.
HDOA urges those who spot illegal animals or who know of persons possessing illegal animals to call the state’s PEST HOTLINE at 643-PEST(7378).
