Hawaii
Hawaii’s Big Island bans feeding feral cats in an effort to help endangered native species
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Throngs of feral cats emerge from the shade of parked trucks and bushes as soon as the familiar Subaru Forester pulls into a dump on Hawaii’s Big Island. They run after the vehicle to a certain meal — a gravy train that might not be around much longer.
A Hawaii County law set to take effect at the start of the new year bans feeding feral animals on county property. It’s an effort to protect native species, such as an endangered goose called the nene, from a super predator introduced to the islands by Europeans in the 18th century.
But the measure doesn’t sit well with many cat lovers, including the driver of the Subaru, Liz Swan, who has been feeding feral felines on the Big Island for 33 years.
“I don’t believe the cats should be exterminated at the expense of the nene,” Swan said. “They’re both living creatures.”
It’s unclear how many feral cats — abandoned pets and their descendants — live on the Big Island. Estimates range well into the tens of thousands, with pockets of dense colonies supported by people. Opponents of the ban say it will hamper their efforts to contain the population by trapping and neutering the animals — and that hungry cats will then have to hunt for food.
A variety of threats
About 200 cats live at the Kealakehe Transfer Station and Recycling Center, not far from the bustling tourist district of Kona. Swan shows up every late afternoon with water and kibble, and says she’s never seen a nene anywhere near the dump. Despite living amid trash, the cats there generally appear robust, most of them missing the tip of an ear, indicating they’ve been spayed or neutered.
The cats threaten the native species directly — by killing them — and indirectly, biologists say. Food left out for the cats can attract native animals, bringing them into closer contact with humans. Cat feces can also spread a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, a disease that has killed endangered Hawaiian monk seals and native birds.
Liz Swan sets up food and a trap for stray cats near the Kealakehe Transfer Station and Recycling Center, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Credit: AP/Mengshin Lin
Last year, a male nene — pronounced “neh-neh” — was struck and killed by a car as it crossed a road in Hilo, on the eastern side of the island, to reach a cat feeding station. The goose’s surviving mate, which also had a gosling die of toxoplasmosis in 2024, has recently taken on another partner and is nesting in a Hilo park, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced this month.
The county’s feeding ban will help protect them, the department said.
A Hawaiian biologist’s view
State wildlife biologist Raymond McGuire recently checked for nene nesting sites among the barren black-rock fields near a shopping center at the Waikoloa resort. It’s not their traditional habitat, but he has seen the geese fly in to grab food — risking getting hit by cars — and last year some nested there.
As he approached, a pair of feline eyes peered out of a crack in the lava rock. Cats emerged from their nooks, perhaps mistaking him for someone who might offer food.
A nene is seen on a golf course, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii. Credit: AP/Mengshin Lin
McGuire was relieved to see there were no nene nearby — but frustrated with evidence the cats are being fed: empty water bowls and aluminum pans.
He’s a cat owner — “my favorite animal is a cat” — but as a Hawaiian whose love of nature inspired him to pursue conservation work, he believes there is no room for them where native species are struggling to survive.
“There’s so many birds that my kids will never see, that I got to see,” he said, referring to native forest birds. “I think about my ancestors and I do wonder: Are we honoring them well in what we do? Because they did take steps to protect them.”
Feral cats are a problem in many places, but Hawaii’s sensitive ecosystem is full of species that evolved without mammalian predators, making them especially vulnerable, McGuire said.
‘I felt bad for the cats’
Hawaiian culture is closely tied to Hawaii’s animals; aumakua, or ancestral spirit guides, can take animal form, noted Big Island Mayor Kimo Alameda. His family’s aumakua is the shark, he said.
After the county council passed the measure with a veto-proof 6-2 vote, Alameda decided to let it take effect without his signature. Opponents persuaded him it would harm the cats.
“I had a soft spot for that,” he said. “I felt bad for the cats.”
The debate was so contentious that some opponents sent him hate messages, Alameda said.
The mayor said he hopes police consider enforcement a low priority. Violations carry fines of up to $50 for a first offense and up to $500 for subsequent offenses.
Will the ban prompt feeders to work in secret?
The answer is simple to Makaʻala Kaʻaumoana, a cultural practitioner — someone who works to preserve Hawaiian cultural traditions — on the island of Kauai.
Trapping, neutering and releasing cats makes no difference because they can still hunt, she said.
“The cats have to be removed,” she said.
Debbie Cravatta, who feeds cats in her West Hawaii neighborhood, questioned why.
“It’s a native species — why does that reign over a domestic cat that somebody dumped out pregnant and that had six kittens out in the wild?” Cravatta said. “Why is that life more valuable than this life?”
Opponents also argue the ban might only push feeding efforts underground.
“I’m not going to let them starve,” Swan said.
Hawaii
University of Hawaii study finds San Andreas Fault stress at 1,000-year high | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
LOS ANGELES >> Stress on the San Andreas Fault system has reached a 1,000-year high, according to new research from the University of Hawaii.
Higher stress on a fault means the pressure that causes earthquakes is building.
“Our results show that stress levels on multiple fault segments are now at or above the highest values seen in the past millennium and that the region may be capable of a large through-going rupture involving both fault systems,” said lead author Liliane Burkhard, research affiliate in the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology at the UH-Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology and a scientist at the University of Bern, Switzerland.
“We also found that Cajon Pass may act as an ‘earthquake gate:’ sometimes blocking large ruptures from crossing between the faults, and sometimes allowing them to pass through and involve both systems in a single event,” Burkhard said in a UH news release.
Multi-fault ruptures, where earthquakes continue from one fault to another, have occurred in multiple recent earthquakes, including the 2011 Tohoku, Japan, earthquake and became a part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s earthquake forecasting model in 2015.
This type of quake would be possible if the Cajon Pass, which is between the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains in Southern California, allows an earthquake to pass through it, meaning rather than affecting the area along one fault line, a quake could continue along a second fault and affect a larger area.
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But Kate Scharer, a co-author of the study and a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena, said there’s no reason for California residents to be significantly more concerned than they were before hearing about the study.
While the stress has reached a milestone, the pressure was already high and the fault has been overdue for a large earthquake for some time, according to the study.
It has been over 100 years since a major tectonic rupture has affected the greater Los Angeles area, which means stress on the tectonic plates has been building, according to the study.
The 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake was the most recent “big one” to affect Southern California, while the San Jacinto Fault saw moderate earthquakes in 1918, 1968 and 1987, according to the study. A long period without seismic activity “raised concern that the next slip event in this region could be both large and complex,” the study says.
As more time passes, an earthquake becomes more likely because built-up energy needs to be released.
“We know for the southern San Andreas and the San Jacinto fault that they were just a little bit over the average (time between earthquakes) from looking at the geologic record,” Scharer said.
Those two faults are at highest risk for an earthquake because they are the fastest moving, she said.
The study looked at a geologic record of earthquake activity across the past 1,000 years, giving a new perspective on the total stress the San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems are under. Tectonic plates are always moving and accumulating stress, save for those few seconds where an earthquake is happening.
When an earthquake releases built-up stress from hundreds to thousands of years of an interseismic period, energy is felt in the form of an earthquake, Scharer said.
Earthquake forecast models from the U.S. Geological Survey are “a reminder that damaging earthquakes are inevitable for California,” and the new study highlights just how much stress the fault systems are under as Californians prepare for the “big one,” according to the USGS.
The study’s importance is with the calculations of stress the researchers did. After a geologic record, which looks at prehistoric earthquakes and is assembled by digging trenches across faults and looking at layers that have been offset in the past, is created, the researchers were able to determine that the stress on the San Andreas fault is at a 1,000-year high.
The stress level could influence if the Cajon Pass facilitates an earthquake spreading from one fault to another, or if it stops an earthquake from doing so. When the stress levels on both faults are similar, both faults appear to rupture jointly, according to the study.
Using a physics-based computer model, the researchers found that that the stress that would normally be released in large earthquakes has continued to accumulate and is at unprecedented levels.
The Cajon Pass, the study suggests, could facilitate a joint rupture of both the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults simultaneously, which could be “significantly more damaging than a single-fault event,” affecting densely populated areas including Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and the Coachella Valley, according to the UH news release.
“This is not a prediction of when an earthquake will happen,” Burkhard said. “However, studies like this are important contributions to national and global earthquake hazard research in that we are using rigorous, quantitative science to better understand the risk facing millions of people. What we can say is that the system is critically stressed, and that physics-based models like this one give us a clearer picture of the range of scenarios we should be prepared for. That information matters for hazard assessments, infrastructure planning, and emergency preparedness.”
Honolulu Star-Advertiser staff contributed to this report.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Honolulu Police Department shut down an illegal gambling operation in Kakaako.
On Thursday, officers with the Narcotics/Vice Gambling detail, along with the District 1 Crime Reduction Unit, Forfeiture Detail and Specialized Services Division, executed a search on a property on Kawaiahao Street.
HPD said they recovered 19 gaming machines and more than $7,000 in cash.
The department said they remain committed to addressing illegal gambling operations.
“The June 25, 2026, operation is the 19th illegal gambling search warrant executed so far in 2026 and the third in the month of June,” said HPD Maj. Jerome Pacarro. “Enforcing the law against these illegal operations helps prevent related criminal activity from taking root and strengthens the safety of our communities.”
To report illegal gambling, call the Narcotics/Vice 24-hour hotline at (808) 723-3933 or use the online form here.
Copyright 2026 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
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