(BIVN) – The State of Hawaiʻi is proposing amendments to rules designed to increase protections for native wildlife, with a public hearing planned for next week.
The Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, will conduct the public hearing on proposed amendments to Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules (HAR) Chapter 13-124, “Rules for Indigenous Wildlife, Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, Injurious Wildlife, Introduced Wild Birds and Introduced Wildlife.”
The hearing will be a hybrid in-person and virtual meeting that will take place on August 13, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oʻahu (1151 Punchbowl Street, Room 132, Honolulu).
The proposed amendments, available now on the DLNR Forestry and Wildlife website, will:
- Increase protections for indigenous wildlife by prohibiting “take” of indigenous wildlife, where “take” includes “harm” or “harass”;
- Increase protections for indigenous, threatened and endangered wildlife where such wildlife live naturally by prohibiting significant habitat modification that harms or kills such wildlife;
- Protect the health and safety of indigenous, threatened and endangered wildlife by prohibiting the feeding of such wildlife throughout the state and by prohibiting the feeding or abandonment of wildlife and domestic animals on department lands; and
- Protect indigenous, threatened and endangered wildlife and their habitats by restricting the movement of injurious wildlife through prohibiting the distribution or sale of plants, equipment, or other goods that contain injurious wildlife.
The DLNR plans to livestream the hearing on YouTube.
