Relating To Feral Animals.
SB 568 would create a new program within the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to coordinate the humane trapping of feral goats, sheep, and pigs in Hawaii. The bill states that these animals have become overpopulated and are causing damage to native ecosystems, dryland forests, farms, ranches, and private property, while also creating hazards on roads and highways and increasing risks to public safety. The measure directs DLNR to serve as the primary state agency responsible for trapping these animals and to coordinate with other agencies on public lands.
The program would include partnerships with public and private entities to make trapped animals available for sale, donation, or consumption as wild game meat; to reduce transportation hazards; to manage impacts on forests and other lands; and, where appropriate, to use trapped animals for grazing and weed control. It also calls for education efforts aimed at property owners, ranchers, and farmers to encourage access for trapping operations. The bill amends Chapter 183D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to add this authority and to update DLNR’s listed powers and duties to include responsibility for feral goat, sheep, and pig trapping.
The bill would amend Hawaii’s wildlife law in Chapter 183D to formally assign DLNR primary responsibility for managing feral goats, sheep, and pigs through trapping. It would create a new statutory program, authorize coordination with state, county, and private partners, and expand DLNR’s duties to include this specific feral-animal management role. The measure would not ban hunting or other existing control methods, but it would establish trapping as a state-coordinated management tool and could affect landowners, ranchers, farmers, transportation agencies, and organizations involved in meat distribution or land management.
The bill’s stated purpose and framing are strongly supportive of action, emphasizing ecological restoration, road safety, wildfire risk reduction, humane treatment, and potential food benefits. The text presents feral-animal control as a practical and necessary state function, and there is no recorded committee testimony or vote history in the provided materials showing opposition or amendment activity. Overall, the available context suggests a favorable policy posture toward the bill’s goals, though no formal legislative sentiment can be inferred beyond the bill text itself.
The main policy questions raised by the bill are who should lead feral-animal management and what methods should be used. SB 568 places DLNR in the lead, which could draw jurisdictional interest from counties, transportation agencies, landowners, and other state entities that currently deal with feral animals on roads or private lands. Another possible point of contention is the reliance on trapping and the handling of trapped animals for meat, grazing, or donation, which may raise operational, ethical, or logistical concerns. However, no specific objections, amendments, or opposing viewpoints are included in the provided record.