Kokua Line
By June Watanabe
Thursday, December 3, 1998
Kokua Line
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
A reader hopes to relocate this goose from Lake Wilson.
Can you help save a wild Canada goose that apparently was released on Lake Wilson this summer? I'm afraid it will be killed, like two other geese that were with it. It does make a lot of noise in the early morning hours, so a lot of people are upset. I've called a lot of people, but no one wants to take responsibility for it. I'm hoping it can be released into a wildlife refuge or someplace safer. It wasn't this noisy when its companions were alive, so I think it's lonely. Quest for quiet leads
to wild goose chaseThe bird resembles a wild Canada goose but is a domestic Chinese goose, according to Mike Silbernagle, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife biologist.
The fact that it's not a wild or endangered species is one reason no one is eager to capture the goose. Another reason: It's not that easy to catch a goose on the loose.
Federal authorities are concerned with endangered native Hawaiian water birds and some migrant fowl, Silbernagle said. Unless domestic birds, on their own, find their way to a federal refuge, officials wouldn't typically release them there because of potential problems with disease.
"It's huge," Silbernagle said, as he took a gander at the goose. It apparently was thriving on wild grasses ringing Lake Wilson.
We contacted the city's Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden in Kaneohe, since it has a reservoir. A pair of "very beautiful" domestic Chinese geese lived there awhile, a spokeswoman said. But they were too aggressive in guarding trails and bridges, attacking people.
Because of that, Ho'omaluhia will not accept another goose.
The Hawaiian Humane Society also said it probably wouldn't get involved, although the cruelty statute might apply if someone attempted to harm the goose.
The HHS helped state officials catch a couple of geese that were running wild at Kaena Point, said Charles Duncan, manager of field services. "It wasn't easy," he said.
Initially, Glenn Higashi, an aquatic biologist with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, tried to see if the Honolulu Zoo might want the goose, but no one called back, he said. He's since found a possible new home on private land, but catching it is another matter.
State workers recently tried to catch the goose, but it has become leery of humans and is managing to evade contact, he said.
Higashi and his colleagues will try again. Keep us posted.
Need help with problems? Call Kokua Line at 525-8686,
fax 525-6711, or write to P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Email to kokualine@starbulletin.com
