Yagong prepares bills concerning hunting on Hawaii Island

HILO, Hawaii: Hawaii County Council Chair Dominic Yagong has two big measures coming before the council concerning hunting, but first he wants to hold meetings with hunters about the proposals.

Yagong told us about both upcoming bills last Friday, and the measures are sure to shake things up in the state of Hawaii.

The first bill is a charter amendment that would create a Game Management Advisory Commission.

Second, an ordnance that declares the practise of animal eradication by helicopter to be quote “completely and unequivocally in conflict with the values of the people of Hawaii” and that it is “not pono”.

The bill will challenge the authority of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to lawfully conduct the helicopter eradication missions – as they have done on Mauna Kea and elsewhere.

DLNR officials have constantly defended the shootings, saying that it is crucial to accomplishing their objectives in protecting the state’s watersheds.

But Yagong says the island’s hunters have long opposed the helicopter hunts.

The bills will be before the council on June 6th.

But first, a community meeting will be held in Kona at the West Hawaii Civic Center at 6 pm on Tuesday, May 29th…. then again the next night in Hilo (May 30th) – again, at 6 pm – at the Hilo Council Chamber at the County Building.