HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0295.009 2006-2008
Geoff and Christina Nelson
P.O. Box 103 rNIA
Hakalau HI 96710,
May 2, 2008,
-C 7_11
Councilman Dominic Yagong rn
Hawaii County Council
25 Aupuni St. _ ~
r~
Hilo HI 96720
C13
Dear Mr. Yagong: c1
We three neighbors on Chin Chuck Road are writing in support of the USDA program to control feral
pigs.
When one of us, the Nelsons, bought our property on Chin Chuck Road nearly three years ago, it was
overrun with wild sugar cane, but we were unaware of the presence of any pigs. However, after
clearing the land, the pigs just moved in, destroying efforts to create a sod base and killing newly
planted fruit trees, wind break, and shrubs. The situation became intolerable: we have seen as many as
seven pigs at once, and they largely thwarted our landscaping and multiple orchard improvements.
Another of us, the Lontocs, incurred considerable expense to professionally install pig-proof fencing,
but it had little effect, as the pigs eventually dug their way under it.
The third of us, the Schroeders, have hunting experience, and we also enlisted the assistance of other
local hunters. While we had some success, it was not until we learned about the USDA trap/snare
program that we made real progress: our combined efforts have removed about 50 pigs from our
properties over the last few months, and the damage, while still occurring, is much reduced. The
USDA personnel are thorough, professional, polite, and, most importantly, effective.
We now understand that this program is in jeopardy of losing its funding. This is a truly effective,
indeed essential, program, and we strongly advocate its continuance. We also suggest an expansion, or
possible modification, of the program: we are all willing to buy, set, and maintain traps and snares on
our properties, provided that the USDA is available on rapid response to humanely dispatch captured
animals. In this way, the program funds might be stretched further, since USDA would have to deal
only with successful trapping and not have the overhead of setting and inspecting traps on a daily basis.
In any case, we are pleading that this highly successful program be maintained in some fashion.
Sincerely yours,
Geoff & Christina Nelson Howard & iz Lontoc Ed & Sharon Schroeder
29-316 Chin Chuck Rd. 29-318 Chin Chuck Rd. 29-362 Chin Chuck Rd.
CC: County Council members Comm. No. 7,0-41
Mike Pitzler, USDA Ref. To:
Ref. Date MAY W_