The Grim “No Kill” Misnomer
By Hob Osterlund, Safina Center Fellow
Laysan albatross chick and parent. Photo: Hob Osterlund
Letʻs say you live in a small cottage on your sonʻs property not far from the bluff on northeastern Kauaʻi. Letʻs say youʻre widowed and retired, and you volunteer for several local agencies. And letʻs say your son and his family live in another house, a mere stone’s throw away. As good fortune would have it, a couple of years ago a Mōlī (Laysan albatross) pair started nesting under a native naupaka bush at the edge of the property. Youʻre thrilled with their presence.
Letʻs say the pair raised a chick each year for two years, and both successfully fledged. But in the third year, when it’s almost time for the latest chick to hatch, you notice cat poop not far from the nest. You know the feces is not from your kitty, who is a strictly indoor-only pet. You borrow a humane trap, then bait it with canned tuna. Nothing happens for a few days. You get doubly worried when the adorable little mōlī chick hatches. You've read about feral cats that can fish tiny chicks right out from beneath their parents.
Then thankfully, you do manage to catch a cat in your trap. Heʻs a large unneutered male with some kind of eye injury. He hisses when you come near, and tries his best to scratch you. Much to your chagrin, you discover that the Kauaʻi Humane Society has recently gone “no kill” and will not accept any feral cats. You call several other agencies but have no luck in finding someone to pick up or allow drop-off of the animal. Although you keep the cat in the shade and offer him food and water, you feel terrible that heʻs stuck in the trap. Your son offers to drown him for you. Your daughter-in-law offers to put Tylenol in his food, which sheʻs heard will kill him. Neither approach seems right to you. Finally, after three days, you find someone you can pay to take the cat to be humanely euthanized. Youʻre grateful to learn that the cat will be checked for a microchip, in case he belongs to someone.
The saga of the feral cat is over for you, but itʻs not over for the rest of Kauaʻi. So far this season, at least twenty mōlī chicks have been killed by feral cats. With an estimated 20-25,000 homeless cats on the island, the loss is huge when there’s no shelter that will euthanize sick or unadoptable cats.
Albatross are not the only native birds at risk. Over a four-year period on the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), 390 bird deaths have been attributed to predation, and 251 of those have been identified as cat kills. Those numbers account for found carcasses only; the actual cat-kill mortality is assumed to be significantly higher.
All those 251 cat-killed birds are federally listed as endangered One hundred were Hawaiian gallinule (ʻAlaeʻula), 50 were Hawaiian coots (ʻAlae keʻokeʻo), 40 were Hawaiian ducks (Koloa maoli) and 20 were Hawaiian stilts (Aeʻo). The estimated world population for each of these species is only 2-3,000 individuals.
Endangered Hawaiian ducks (Koloa) are especially vulnerable to feral cats. Photo: Hob Osterlund
“We simply will not allow cat supremacists to control Kauaʻi’s story.”
A feral cat stalks an endangered Hawaiian gallinule (ʻAlae ʻula). Photo: Hob Osterlund
Feral cat supporters widely advocate for “Trap-Neuter-Release,” commonly known as TNR. Not long ago the Kauaʻi Community Cat Project (KCCP) reported 5,400 cats having been neutered over ten years, or an average of 540 cats/year. But with tens of thousands of homeless animals living on Kauaʻi, itʻs clear the problem cannot be solved by neutering alone. During the four-year period of the water bird kills at Hanalei NWR, 222 cats were trapped. Of those, only five were found to be notch-eared and microchipped. The other 217 cats were capable of reproducing at the alarming rate attributed to all cats.
Native birds are culturally vital to Hawaiians. “Many people donʻt understand what these things represent to Kānaka” (native Hawaiians), says ornithologist Bret Nainoa Mossman. “These arenʻt just birds or plants, these are manu people and ōhiʻa people, family, and something even deeper than that.”
Endangered Hawaiian gallinule (ʻAlae ʻula) parent teaches chicks whatʻs edible. Photo: Hob Osterlund
“I'd also add that predation effects all life stages of these birds from the eggs to the adults, giving them no form of refuge other than when the seabirds are out on the ocean,” said Mossman. “Our native terrestrial birds are under threat around the clock for 365 days a year from non-native mammals, and chief among them is the feral cat.”
Endangered Hawaiian coots (ʻAlae keʻokeʻo) are hunted by feral cats in wetlands. Photo: Hob Osterlund
an endangered Hawaiian gallinule (ʻAlae ʻula) chick forages. Photo: Hob Osterlund
For some endangered species, Kauaʻi is a last stronghold—a Noahʻs Ark, if you will—so the need for human help summons a mighty responsibility. “Kauaʻi is different because of where it is, what it is and who it is,” says Makaala Kaaumoana, Executive Director of the Hanalei Watershed Hui. “We have been colonized repeatedly by invasives, which includes the cat. We simply will not allow cat supremacists to control Kauaiʻs story.”
Feral cat near Laysan albatross (Mōlī) nest. Within minutes of this shot the newly-hatched chick was predated and killed.
Local government understands the damage cats are doing to the islands. In 2018, the State of Hawaiʻi listed feral cats as one of its most impactful invasive species, right up there with wild pigs.
In April, 2021, The Garden Island newspaper published an editorial written by Grant Sizemore, Director of Invasive Species Programs for the American Bird Conservancy. “I was dismayed to read Kauaʻi Humane Society Executive Director Nicole Schafer Crane advocating trap, neuter, release (TNR) for managing feral cats on Kauaʻi. The shelter’s priority appears to be its statistics rather than positive outcomes for all of Kauaʻi’s communities. Why else would the shelter refuse to accept feral cats as part of their animal control duties? This refusal leaves Kauaʻi’s birds dead and residents without options for unwanted feral cats on their property. TNR keeps these cats roaming the landscape. Sterilized or not, feral cats continue to kill Kauaʻi’s native birds...helping to drive these species further toward extinction.”
Neutered feral cats still have to hunt. This cat hauled out a floating dead fish for a meal. Photo: Hob Osterlund
Sizemore acknowledged the County Councilʻs efforts, and called for more action. “But as Council Chair Kaneshiro noted, managing Kauaʻi’s feral cats is about more than protecting birds. It’s about protecting residents. Not only does TNR burden communities with these unwanted cats, it puts people’s health at risk. For example, studies in Hawaiʻi have found that feral cats, including those in TNR programs, excrete the parasite Toxoplasma gondii in their feces. This parasite can then infect birds and mammals — including people — causing the disease toxoplasmosis, which can lead to miscarriages, blindness, and death in people and has emerged as a major threat to Hawaiian Monk Seals. Because of cats — and only cats — this parasite now contaminates Kauaʻi’s environment, including beach parks and harbors, putting people at risk. TNR is irresponsible, and Kauaʻi’s residents and endangered birds deserve better — an animal control provider that will remove feral cats rather than support their re-abandonment.”
The cat issue in Hawaiʻi is not new. In 2016 Outside Magazine published an eloquent and painstakingly-researched story which opened with a sentiment that echoes Sizemoreʻs: “There is an evolutionary death match under way in Hawaii, where half a million feral cats, some of them infected with a terrifying zombie parasite, are wreaking havoc on endangered species. Some people call them the "kitties of doom." Others will do anything to save them.”
Next blog: recommendations of the Kauaʻi Feral Cat Task Force and what can be done in Hawai’i.