A live skunk was captured at Hilo Harbor on Nov. 7, a day after two people from a shipping company reported seeing it around Pier 1. It’s the second one found in the Islands this year.
The state Department of Agriculture and Biosecurity said in an announcement Monday that agriculture inspectors from its Plant Quarantine Branch in Hilo were dispatched to the pier just after 8 a.m. on Nov. 6.
The skunk was reported to be in the undercarriage of a vehicle on the dock, and although the animal was visible, it wasn’t accessible, the department noted. Dockworkers moved the vehicle into a shipping container where traps were set using cat food.
PQB found the skunk in the trap on Friday morning. It's unknown where the skunk came from but DAB said it's presumed the animal "hitchhiked aboard a cargo ship."
Although no other skunks were found after a survey of the area, DAB says that additional traps have been deployed throughout the container yard as a precaution.
As is protocol, the skunk was humanely euthanized for rabies testing, which can only be done after the animal is dead. The animal is one of four primary wild carriers of rabies in the U.S., DABs noted.
The state Department of Health says that Hawai‘i is the only state in the country free of rabies.
Skunks are among the animals prohibited in Hawai‘i.
Avid egg-eaters, DAB says the species — which can be found on the Mainland and in Canada, South America, Mexico and other parts of the world — would pose a threat to native ground-nesting birds if it becomes established in the Islands.
This is just the latest invasive stowaway found in the Islands this year.
Most recently, two live opossums were captured at Honolulu Harbor in October and a third was captured in Hilo in September.
In June, a live, three-and-a-half foot non-venomous ball python was captured by state agriculture inspectors in Kaimukī, and a live skunk was captured by Honolulu police at Kaka‘ako Waterfront Park, which is adjacent to Honolulu Harbor.
DAB says that skunks also have previously been captured by stevedores at Honolulu Harbor in February 2018, January and July 2021, and June 2022. On Maui, live skunks were captured at Kahului Harbor in December 2020 and at a trucking company in August 2018. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources also captured a skunk at Kanahā Pond State Wildlife Sanctuary on the Valley Isle in August 2022, and in February 2023, a Hilo resident caught a skunk in a mongoose trap, DAB noted.
They’ve all tested negative for rabies, the department says.
Earlier this summer, we learned more about what happens when illegal or invasive animals are found in Hawai‘i. You can read more about that here.
Anyone who spots or captures an illegal animal or invasive species should call the statewide toll-free Pest Hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378).
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
