Army halts shooting of Big Island goats

The AP reports that an Army plan to shoot goats at the Pohakuloa Training Area has been postponed due to “a dispute between state Division of Forestry and Wildlife administrators and the new training area commander, Lt. Col. Rolland Niles.”

According to the article:

Army Garrison-Hawaii spokesman Mike Egami says state officials expressed their concerns in an argumentative way with Niles.

Wildlife division official Roger Imoto says the state is investigating the Army’s goat eradication plans on leased state land.

He says he’s had difficulty obtaining details from the Army

But the shooting of feral goats in areas that are inaccessible due to unexploded ordnance is cruel and wasteful.    At public meetings in Hilo, testifiers recommended using existing enclosures and luring the goats with oats soaked in water, as the goats are thirsty and starving.  They could then be captured and distributed to needy families for food or possibly, as one Kaua’i resident has done, to rent out as a sustainable grazing service for open fields.

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