Maui Mongoose

Location: Hana, Hawaii
Address: Waianapanapa State Park
Date: Jan 2011
Website: dlnr.hawaii.gov

As we pulled into the parking lot for views of the eastern Maui coast our driver stated,  "If you want to come with me I will be at the side of the parking lot feeding the mongoose."  Who the?  What the? Come again?  We fancy ourselves to know a thing or two about animals and where they are located.  We would expect to find mongoose in Africa or fighting a cobra in India, but not in Hawaii.  At first we were not sure we had heard the driver correctly so we followed him to the edge of the parking lot.  Sure enough he threw down some food and out from the bushes crept a small asian mongoose.  The mongoose snatched up the food and ran back into the bushes for cover.  Again our driver threw some more food and yet another mongoose came out and took its food to enjoy under one of the parked cars.
  It seems that in the past Maui had a bit of a rat problem and someone thought it was a good idea to bring in some mongoose to get rid of the rats.  From our understanding the mongoose themselves have now become a bit of a menace.  We can't say we blame them as after our first visit to Maui we never wanted to leave either.

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Map of Our World
Maui Mongoose

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Post # 23