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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, August 4, 2003

ISLAND VOICES
Forget catching ghost cat

By Robert Schmidt

People are seeing it, biologists are monitoring it and the newspapers are reporting it. "I believe it's for real," one wildlife biologist was quoted in The Advertiser.

Of course something is out there. The Olinda area on Maui has trees, birds, deer, dogs, rats, people, houses, cars and, at least until recently, big cat traps.

But a leopard or a jaguar? I doubt it.

People have reported observations of a "cat-like" animal since at least last December. Upon investigation, large paw prints, claw marks on trees, dead doves and a dead fawn were found. The local chicken population may have declined. Traps caught nothing except a feral cat, and motion-sensing cameras came up with zilch.

How does a big cat, whether jaguar, leopard, cougar or African lion, get to Maui? It's not via wind, water or wings. If there is a big cat here, it came with a person, and unless our port inspectors are blind, a full-grown leopard in a cage or on a leash would not be admitted.

Perhaps a smaller cub could be sneaked through in a bag. So a cub is brought to Maui, and either escapes or allowed to roam, right? How would it behave?

Like other big cats raised in captivity, it would not have learned how to hunt from its mother, and it would associate humans with food. But nobody is reporting that this ghost cat is approaching him or her. Nobody is complaining about Fluffy or Spot disappearing. Domestic cat-sized predators eat doves. Large cats eat bigger prey. I doubt that a hungry leopard is going after small birds.

Are residents hearing strange new feline vocalizations? Is there a local in the neighborhood bragging about having a wild cat? Dogs barking like crazy for unknown reasons? Somebody without cats buying a lot of cat food at the market?

I believe people are seeing something, and biologists are monitoring something. I think it is a stretch to put it together into one four-legged package. I suspect a new feral cat has moved into the neighborhood. This fits the reported shape and the dove-killer profile.

You can't catch something that isn't there to be caught, in a trap or on film.

I'm looking for a smoking gun, and it hasn't appeared.

Robert Schmidt, of Manoa, is a certified wildlife biologist.