Big-cat search to begin
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui Bureau
WAILUKU, Maui — When big-cat expert Bill Van Pelt arrives tomorrow on Maui, he will do so without any pre-conceived notion about what's prowling around the Olinda area.
Based on sketchy digital photographs of paw prints sent to him from Hawai'i, the animal could be either a dog or a big cat, said Van Pelt, an official with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
"I can't say it's a cat for sure," Van Pelt said in a telephone interview yesterday. "But there is an animal out there."
Van Pelt said he won't know what it is until he gets out in the field. "If I can find a sign, I'm confident I can tell whether it's a cat," he said.
Van Pelt has worked for the Arizona Game and Fish Department for 12 years, the last seven as nongame mammals program manager. His specialty is large predatory animals. He is a member of the Jaguar Conservation Team, Ocelot Recovery Team and the Mexican Wolf Project.
Maui wildlife biologist Fern Duvall, the point man on the state's big-cat investigation, said he's been getting advice from a handful of experts. But when he started looking for someone to bring to Maui, Van Pelt's name kept coming to the fore.
Olinda residents have been reporting sightings of a big cat since December. State wildlife officials stepped up their hunt in June following a search that found paw tracks, claw marks on trees and dead birds. Officials set up cage traps, but they were dismantled after two weeks.
With Van Pelt offering advice, Hawai'i officials put away their traps and began focusing on identifying the animal. Six velcro-equipped "hair-snare stations" were set up to snag some hair, and more of the stations were installed this week.
Van Pelt said yesterday that the original trapping method was probably a waste of time, especially if the goal was to capture a big cat.
If the existence of a big cat is confirmed, he said he would probably recommend bringing in hounds and setting either snare traps or padded leg-hold traps. The aim of the hounds is to trap the animal in a tree for an easy shot with a tranquilizer gun. But the dogs are no guarantee of capture, he added, because the cat might have escape routes.
Van Pelt said he is aware that many in the community want the animal captured rather than killed. Hound dogs, tranquilizer guns, snare traps and leg-hold traps all present certain risks to the animal, he said, but they are generally humane methods.
Van Pelt said the decision to kill a predator versus capturing and moving it elsewhere is a tough one — one he's had to make more than a few times in his career. A couple of years ago, for example, a coyote bit a child and he decided to kill the animal to test it for rabies, a move that stirred protest.
"We've removed and translocated bears in Arizona, too," he said. "It's definitely a difficult call — one I'm glad I don't have to make (on Maui)."
With a weekly newspaper paying for travel expenses and accommodations, Van Pelt is expected to arrive on Maui tomorrow to begin a five-day assignment. He plans to bring with him a special remote-sensing camera that takes images when an animal breaks its infrared beam.
On Maui, Van Pelt plans to interview some of the residents who say they've seen the cat, and he expects to search the rugged terrain near their homes for tracks, scat, hair and other signs.
Van Pelt said it's his first trip to Hawai'i and he's excited. But he's also looking forward to the hunt. It's very similar to the work he does in Arizona checking out jaguar sightings.
Although the jaguar is known as a jungle cat, its range reaches as far north as the Grand Canyon. Still, the jaguar remains a rare sight, with the last one photographed in Arizona in December 2001.
Van Pelt said he's been known to burst a few bubbles, having in at least one instance discovered that a large predator was actually a big house cat.
"You learn to become a skeptic," he said. "You never know until you collect the evidence."
