The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1921-08-12
Mongoose Slaughter
Meets With Opposition
From Sugar Industry

Numbers of persons connected with
the sugar industry are not in accord
with those who are advocating a cam
paign for the determination of the
mongoose through the Offering of
payments for their heads and of speci-
al prizes for those who bring in the
largest number of heads. Recently
there was a conference in Honolulu
on the subject attended by a number
of those who are connected with the
H. S. p. A., and in a Honolulu paper,
H. p. Agee is quoted as saying:
while the mongoose is undoubt-
eddy IN enemy of game birds, it is
likewise an enemy of insects, rats and
MICE" asserts H. p. Agee, director of
the station. MANY people feel that
| the mongoose has failed as an enemy
of the rat, but the records, both in
Hawaii and Jamaica, indicate that
the rats have been reduced to an APP
p%reciable extent by the mongoose.
Caution is Advised
1--WE would advise against the use
of public funds in efforts to reduce
TIE HlOISOOSt. lie Sldlt VI ELL
~sylvania spent thousands and thou
sands of dollars to exterminate the
owls and hawks, and when their eff
fort began to show results it was OBJ
served that the rats and mice had in
creased to such an alarming extent
that protective measures had to be
passed in behalf of the owls and
hawks.
"The danger here, however, is not
that the mongoose will be eradicated.
The chance of reducing it to any con-
siderable extent appears to us as a
remote possibility. But in the mean
time a great deal of the taxpayers
money may be spent"
1.-THE opinion of the experiment sta
ton, however, is not that the animal
should be protected.
"We feel that the public should be
free to take such steps as may be
justified toward reducing it locally
in various vicinities," Mr.. Agee o
tinued. 1--WE believe, though, that
all such endeavors will be of temper
airy and minor effectiveness"
Evidence in favor of the mongoose
may be seer today on Kauai, Mr..
Agee points out. The mongoose has
not been introduced on that island,
and the rat menace is in general
more serious there than it is with
the other islands of Hawaii.
The mongoose was introduced from
India about Is years ago. Three
years after this an article in the
Planters Monthly, said in part:
There is no doubt that the mon
| goose has saved the planters of Ha-
makua thousand of dollars. In form
err years it was no uncommon thing
to see ~one-fourth, and ever One-half,
of the cane left on the fields, h rats
having rendered that portion unfit for
grinding by eating the stalks near
the ground and causing them to rot
and die.
zone planter said: (They complain
about the mongose eating chickens,
but the little beggars save me thou
sands of dollars. Besides, it is only
a few chickens they eat. I do not be-
lieve they destroy as many as the
rats used to-"
The experiment station entomol-
ogists have made a study of the
habits of the mongosoe and have re-
potred that it is very destructive to
insect life.
Among the insects which it Is
proved that the mongoose eats are
adult a n borers, adults and grubs
of the japanese beetless, c~ockroaches
of different kinds, molecrickets, grass
hoppers, carvings and ants, thus show
ing a catholic taste in it's insect diet"