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JT: I was just gonna say – I think it’s an interesting question, I think it depends on the issue <br />we’re talking about cause there some things in the environment that pigs don’t really <br />contribute to but in a lot of places they’re gonna cause more environmental impact than <br />many of your other invasives. Ah, mosquitos though – I can’t think of anything that I <br />dislike more than dealing with mosquitos, but, I think the thing about mosquitos that we <br />never know is kinda what’s the beneficial impact for birds that, that rely on eating those <br />mosquitos but then also what’s the negative in the diseases they transmit. And so that <br />for me is a question mark, and I don’t know enough about your mosquito problem there <br />to really weigh in on which one is gonna be worse for you. <br /> <br />LT: Gothcha. <br /> <br />JT: I will say where I live there are areas on our coast that if you’re gonna work in that area <br />you have to go out with your clothing washed in pyrethrin and with a bug suit on <br />otherwise you’ll, you’ll just get drained dry by the mosquitos pretty quickly. <br /> <br />LT: Yeah. <br /> <br />RD: Chair, District – 1, Robert Duerr. Thanks John, that was very helpful – it was great to see <br />your perspective, in Hawaii it seems to be a battle that, like in Texas, that can’t be won – <br />the, the numbers – the reproductive values of the population is just – you just can’t go <br />against the math – but… <br /> <br />JT: Yeah. <br /> <br />RD: But that being said how would, what would you see as a, as a collective or a coordinated <br />effort – what should that be like? <br /> <br />JT: Yeah, that’s a great question. So what I typically say to people is that you’ve got a big <br />landscape but there’s areas that are gonna be hit by pigs worst every single time <br />because those are the valuable areas for food or for water or whatever they’re <br />searching for. And I think in those – highlighting where they are and when pig numbers <br />are really high – you mentioned that reproductive output and you’re quite right – we <br />often talk about when pig numbers get to a point that a landowner can’t manage them <br />on their own – how do you put a team together whether that’s private folks working <br />together or whether that’s bringing in some government aid to knock that population <br />down locally to where the landowner can manage it and that can be whatever tool <br />works, you know, traps, night shooting, ah, for us we have to just flex and work around <br />the pigs,for us it’s seasonal. If there’s a lot of food on the ground you can’t get them into <br />traps because there’s nothing they want to go into a trap for – but in those cases we <br />often will shoot at night with rifles with thermal or night vision, but I think that’s the <br />thing is, highlighting the areas that are always hit the worst and getting them some <br />support to reduce those populations. <br /> <br />15 <br /> <br />