More than 400 goats were removed from Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park last week.
More than 400 goats were removed from Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park last week.
The National Park Service and state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry Wildlife on Wednesday successfully removed 458 goats from the South Kona park. The project, which took months to implement, was undertaken to remove live goats from park lands that were negatively impacting cultural and natural resources.
Between July 8 and 21, the state received 185 applications for the lottery and issued 14 permits allowing for 20 to 50 goats each. The goats were free to the recipients, provided they had an approved trailer to load and haul them away.
Starting Aug. 9, a team of wildlife specialists and fence builders from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park worked with resource management staff from the Pu‘uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park and Pu‘ukohola National Historic Site to install a temporary wing fence to help contain and corral the goats into a long chute where they could divide the goats for distribution. The temporary chute was assembled along a service road just past the picnic area.
The next day, staff from both parks began a soft drive to move the goats to the south side of the park where the wing fence kept them contained over night. Early the next morning, at the crack of dawn, staff from the four parks joined together and after a safety briefing the diverse crew began to slowly move the goats into the chute.
The first trailer arrived at 7:30 a.m., and the effort to load the goats began not too long after. Once all 458 goats were loaded, the park was reopened to the public at 2 p.m.
