Hilo
Plenty of pigs
Why do hunters fear losing hunting areas to the proposed Pu’u Maka’ala Natural Area Reserve (NAR) at Kulani? Four thousand acres of the NAR will remain open to hunting — plus 60,000 acres of forest reserve nearby.
Why do they fear of running out of game? For European mouflon, hunters tend to kill males, leaving the females, who have babies. And feral pigs reproduce so fast that you can remove two out of five from a small enclosed area every year, and never run out of pigs. This per a local wildlife biologist.
It’s well known that pigs, goats and sheep wreak havoc on native ecosystems and watersheds. And remember that at a July 2010 hearing, eight out of 10 people supported the NAR.
I have nothing against hunting for food. But the evidence points to far more risk of running out of native species than running out of pigs.
Cory Harden
Mountain View
Losing our rights
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture have large grants to fence off hundreds of acres of public lands — yes, public lands — to keep hunters from providing for their families.
Grants have provided the money for eradication of plants and animals they consider non-native. This is food taken from the land that provides for people who hunt and gather.
Meanwhile, Gov. Abercrombie is confiscating what little the homeless people have, and now they have nowhere to go but public streets. Our disabled and elderly have so little, so that living on their own is impossible. Those who have no family to depend on end up homeless. Where are the grants for helping these people?
Mr. Abercrombie, where are your morals, where is your compassion? I guess you have never ended up in a situation that requires help to survive.
There is no relief. Social Security gives a cost-of-living increase after four years of no increase. And what happens? Human Services takes it away. The elderly have co-payments on prescription drugs they can’t afford, while there is loads of money going to eradication.
Is Mr. Abercrombie trying genocide with the poor, so that in Hawaii we only will have the rich?
Think about this: We need everyone’s participation in a movement to acquire our rights once again. With the grants for eradication, we have no say, we have no vote. It is no longer “of the people.” We must demand return of our rights.
Stop murdering our food sources.
Lani K. Ka’awaloa
Pahoa
Dear coward:
On Feb. 8, I received an anonymous letter at my home. It came in a stamped business-size envelope without a return address, and the letter was neatly printed but unsigned.
The letter starts with “Aloha Idiot” and goes on to express the hope that all these “stupid haole transplants” would go back to where they came from because they are not welcome here. The letter ends with, “So keep your stupid comments to yourself.”
It is well known that there is a certain segment of the local population who share these sentiments. My “stupid comments” are not described in any way in the letter, and there is no logical argument made.
I am not surprised, hurt, offended, nor intimidated, so I doubt that the writer has achieved any objective except to prove that he or she is a coward who reflects poorly on the “local” community they claim to represent.
Over the years, I have had a number of letters published in the Tribune-Herald on a variety of topics (most recently on Feb. 1). The proper way to comment on any views published in the paper is to have the guts to write a signed letter to the editor, including an address and phone number for verification. It is the responsibility of the editor to decide whether a letter is worthy of publication.
Adrienne S. Dey
Hilo