Large cat sightings converting skeptics
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
KAHULUI, Maui — Although Olinda residents Willie and Susan Wachter had heard reports of a large catlike animal creeping about their rural Upcountry community — and Susan's father claimed to have seen the beast — they didn't believe the rumors until they crossed paths with the animal last week, they said yesterday.
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"I was totally freaked," Susan Wachter said of the encounter that took place as they were pulling out of their driveway.
State wildlife biologist Fern Duvall shows the cage being used to try to capture the catlike creature that has been reported on the prowl in Upcountry Maui. State officials will decide the animal's fate.
Some of the neighbors remain skeptical despite the eyewitness accounts.
"I think this is a Loch Ness monster thing," said Ed Mee. "You'd think if there really was a jaguar or something, someone would have missing chickens or livestock."
Mee has a point. No paw prints, half-eaten animal carcasses, claw marks on trees or any other traces of a large predator have been found.
The only evidence that a big cat may be on the loose are four recent sightings and five reports since mid-December of animal cries that sound like a dinosaur — or like the dinosaurs in movies — or of unusual pet behavior that might indicate the presence of another animal.
There's also a clump of dark brown fur recovered from the Wachters' fence after the animal was seen fleeing over it June 9.
State wildlife biologist Fern Duvall of the Department of Land and Natural Resources said the source of the fur hasn't been identified, but it does not belong to a pet dog or cat, livestock or deer.
The nine reports of incidents at different times of day took place within a two-mile area in the otherwise quiet community of properties ranging from two to 70 acres. The landscape is covered with kikuyu grass, rolling pastures and towering eucalyptus trees.
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Reports of a large catlike animal go back at least six or seven years, Duvall said. The recent increase in reports and similarity of the descriptions led officials to set a baited trap on March 15, with no results. The live-catch trap was set again last Thursday and is being monitored daily.
Willie and Susan Wachter said they were skeptical about the reported creature until they saw it with their own eyes.
Based on descriptions of the animal's head and its long, upturned tail, Duvall suspects it may be a jaguar or a leopard. Because it apparently has not been feeding on neighborhood pets or livestock, he speculated it was being fed by an owner who may be letting it out periodically, or that it may have escaped from a pen.
It is illegal to possess tigers, leopards or other big-cat species in Hawai'i.
The animal's fate, if caught, will be decided by the appropriate state agencies. Transfer to a zoo or other animal-care facility will be considered, but if public safety is at stake, "use of firearms is a possibility," according to a statement from the Maui Invasive Species Committee.
The Wachters are hoping it won't come to that. Despite their unnerving episode with the unidentified animal, they do not want to see it harmed.
Willie Wachter said the animal leaped into view and ran "low to the ground and fast" before disappearing into a gulch. Their neighbors told them they had seen it the previous afternoon.
Before then, Wachter hadn't put much stock in the rumors about a beast on the prowl. "Seeing is believing," he said.
Susan Wachter's father, Dr. Ed Boone, spotted a similar animal while driving up Olinda Road in mid-December, although he said it was a lighter color.
"I thought it was a big yellowish dog, then I saw the long tail and it was obviously a cat," he said.
Boone also said he'd noticed a decline in Olinda's wild chicken population.
The Wachters haven't changed their routines, but the cat is on their minds. "I do find myself staring into the pasture a lot these days," Susan Wachter said.
Their neighbors, Ed and Judy Mee, aren't overly concerned either.
"We have a golden retriever that would bark if he hears anything unusual in the evenings," Judy Mee said. "It's certainly very curious."
Officials want to limit human activity where the trap has been set. Sightings and other observations should be reported immediately to Duvall at (808) 873-3502 or the police non-emergency number, (808) 244-6400.
Reach Christie Wilson at (808) 244-4880, or e-mail at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.
