DLNR Chair Dawn Chang met Tuesday with the principals of ABayKitties, the organization that has provided cat food at a trio of feeding stations at the Queens’ Marketplace shopping center. Last week, property owner Alexander & Baldwin removed the feeders after learning that as many as a dozen Hawaiian nēnē geese, were also eating cat food.
During a protest at Queensʻ Marketplace on the Big Island, two women from Waikōloa were cited by state conservation and resources officers for “prohibited take of endangered species” by putting bowls of cat food on the ground.
Two women were cited by officers from the state DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Tuesday night during a protest by feral cat activists over feeding stations that are being removed.
The DLNR has directed the removal of cat-feeding stations located at a Hawai’i Island shopping center, following complaints that the endangered Hawai‘i state bird, the nēnē (Hawaiian goose), are being negatively impacted by the consumption of cat food and close contact with feral cats.