Newly arrived big-cat expert Bill Van Pelt of the Arizona Game and Fish Department will lead the expedition with equipment that includes night-vision gear and a tape-recorder.

The goal is to identify the animal, not to capture it.

“If we’re successful in getting it to respond tonight, we think we’ll be able to do it again,” Van Pelt said this morning. “You have to identify the animal first before you know how to capture it.”

Van Pelt, who arrived late Saturday, made his initial visit to Olinda yesterday, setting up a “camera trap” that uses an infrared beam to help snap a picture in the night, as well as a “squeaker” that sounds like a wounded rabbit or rat.

“We want it to believe it’s getting a free meal,” he said.

Van Pelt yesterday also interviewed several people who have reported seeing the big cat, including one who heard dogs barking and saw “a shiny, dark animal with a long tail” crossing her lawn within 12 feet of her window on Saturday night.

While the witnesses described varying cat descriptions and sounds, he said, it does appear some kind of catlike creature is out there, possibly a leopard, jaguar or mountain lion.

Van Pelt, who will stay on Maui until Wednesday, said rain had fallen in the Olinda area yesterday, so he found no obvious signs during his initial inspection of the rugged terrain.

Today he plans to set up more “hair-snare” stations designed to grab the animal’s hair to help in identification. And if the animal responds to tonight’s recordings, he said, officials will follow up tomorrow with a sweep of the area to look for more signs.