Most native Hawaii birds near extinction
By AUDREY McAVOY, Associated Press Writer ETHONOLULU – Hawaii’s native avian population is in peril, with nearly all the state’s birds in danger of becoming extinct, a federal report says. One-third of the nation’s endangered birds are in Hawaii, said the report issued Thursday by the Interior Department. Thirty-one Hawaiian bird species are listed as endangered, more than anywhere else in the country. "That is the epicenter of extinctions and near-extinctions," said John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which helped produce the study. "Hawaii is (a) borderline ecological disaster." Hawaii’s native birds are threatened by the destruction of their habitats by invasive plant species and feral animals like pigs, goats and sheep. Diseases, especially those borne by mosquitoes, are another killer. … Scott Fetz, wildlife program manager at the state’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, said he was confident such efforts could help restore all of Hawaii’s endangered species, excluding those that have already become extinct. "The basic, fundamental problem that we have is a lack of funding to do what we need to do," Fetz said. "If we had a lot more funding that we do, we would be able to recover most, if not all, of the species that we have that are endangered." …
