Missing hunter is found safe in forest area
The Maui Fire Department helicopter Friday located a missing 26-year-old Maui pig hunter who spent the night in the Makawao Forest Reserve when he became separated from two other people.
Rescue personnel located the man at 6:40 a.m. and airlifted him to a landing zone, Maui Fire Department spokesman Lee Mainaga said. He did not require medical attention.
Mainaga said firefighters responded to a 1:15 p.m. Thursday 911 call from the top of Kahakapao Road and found a 28-year-old woman, who had an ankle injury in a heavily forested ravine. The woman, unable to walk out, was airlifted to a landing zone within the Piiholo Water Treatment Facility.
One of two men who were with the woman left at the time of the 911 call to return to his truck but became lost and was reported missing. The search for him was suspended Thursday evening but resumed Friday morning, when he was located.
The man who stayed with the woman walked out of the forest trail on his own with his dogs, Mainaga said.
Bird protection effort targets sheep, goats
The state says it will begin hunting feral sheep and goats on the Big Island in coming weeks to protect habitat for the endangered palila songbird.
The Department of Land and Natural Resources said Friday it will hunt goats, mouflon sheep, feral sheep and sheep hybrids in the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve and Kaohe Game Management Area. Sheep eat and trample on the mamane trees the palila rely on for food.
A 2010 U.S. Geological Survey study estimated there were only about 1,200 palila still in extistence.
The hunts are scheduled for July 15-16, Aug. 28-29 and Sept. 3-6.
