Live skunk captured at Honolulu Harbor

A live skunk was captured at Honolulu Harbor Monday night by agriculture inspectors from the Hawai‘i Department of Agriculture after several days of tracking the animal.

Last Thursday, inspectors from HDOA’s Plant Quarantine Branch received a report at about 3 a.m. that stevedores spotted a skunk running around the parking lot at Pier 1. Inspectors set traps in the area that day.  

At midnight Friday, security personnel from the US Immigration Office at Pier 1 contacted inspectors and reported that the skunk was seen on a security camera entering and exiting the property through a fence. Inspectors responded to the area and attempted to capture the skunk but were not successful.

On Monday night at 8:30 p.m., US Immigration Office security personnel reported the skunk was seen taking shelter under a cargo container used for storage. Three inspectors responded and were able to capture the skunk using a net, pole and wooden boards to scare it out its hiding place, while braving the animal’s odoriferous natural defense system. The skunk is being tested for rabies.

It is not known how long the skunk had been in the area or what vessel it may have hitchhiked on.

Live skunks have been captured at Pier 1 in February 2018 January 2021, July 2021 and June 2022. On Maui, a live skunk was captured at Kahului Harbor in December 2020 and one was captured at a trucking company in August 2018. All previously captured skunks have tested negative for rabies.

Skunks are prohibited in Hawai‘i and are only allowed by permit for research and exhibition in a municipal zoo. Skunks inhabit the US, Canada, South America, Mexico and other parts of the world. In the US, they are recognized as one of the four primary wild carriers of rabies, a fatal viral disease of mammals that is often transmitted through the bite of an infected animal. Hawai‘i is the only state in the US and one of the few places in the world that is free of rabies.

Sightings or captures of illegal and invasive species should be immediately reported to the state’s toll-free Pest Hotline at 808-643-PEST (7378).