WAILUKU >> The Maui mayor’s administration is hoping the Maui Humane Society can help with the problem of feral chickens after one knocked out power to Kahului Airport last month.

People on the island say the feral chicken population is increasing, and with it problems associated with the wild birds, which aren’t fat and tasty like domesticated chickens.

The Maui News says Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa is proposing a nearly $200,000 increase in Maui Humane Society’s budget. He wants the society to use some of that funding to develop a response to the island’s feral chicken problem.

Humane Society officials say that increase merely brings its funding back to 2009 levels. But, the organization says it will try to look for low-cost ways to address Maui’s wild chicken population problem.