Illegal animal confiscations up since COVID, says state ag department

    HONOLULU, Hawaii (KITV) -- The number of illegal animals that state inspectors are confiscating or capturing has gone up in Hawaii, according to the State Department of Agriculture. An inspector says it's actually due to a perfect storm: COVID, the economy, and the Internet.

Department of Agriculture inspectors wrangled a wayward opossum in downtown Honolulu on Wednesday. It's not the first marsupial to take a Hawaiian vacation, and probably a stowaway from a West Coast ship. And definitely not the most exotic catch, by far.

Jonathan Ho, acting manager of the State Department of Agriculture's Plant Quarantine Branch, detailed, "Staff have found snakes, chameleons, freshwater stingrays." If it's in the illicit pet trade, Ho says they've probably seen it.

Ho's staff needs to be able to identify everything from an amoeba to a zebra. "I have found a Kenyan Sand Boa way back in the day," he said of his personal experience.

He also has noticed the number of confiscations is up "a little bit- and a lot of it has to do with COVID."

People sitting at home, some needing income; and the Internet, a willing accomplice. "So they raised animals, fish, and all kinds of stuff and a lot of people got very good at raising these animals and then they realized that they could sell them themselves," said Ho. "They're at home, they can't work, and a lot of people lost their jobs so they figured out other ways to do it and they became good at it."

Ho calls it a Whack-a-mole game of busting some rule breakers- only to find more take their place. "It's constant. I think people are trying to ship, and we're constantly trying to interdict all these things that are being brought into the state. People finding ways around the regulation is always frustrating, right?"

If you see an illegal animal call the toll-free PEST HOTLINE at 808-643-PEST. If you own an illegal animal and want to turn it in, you can do so via the state's Amnesty Program.