“The state is not taking effective action to keep the sheep out of the palila’s critical habitat, and the palila population is suffering for it,” said John Harrison, president of the Hawaii Audubon Society.
The environmental legal organization, Earthjustice, has filed legal papers against the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources for failing to keep feral sheep and goats out of the critically-endangered palila bird's last habitat. According to Earthjustice, the court has already issued three orders beginning in 1979 that found the state of Hawiai in violation of the Endangered Species Act by not protecting the palila bird from the destructive feeding practices of sheep and goats.
The palila birds and the feral sheep and goats are currently in competition for native mämane trees. The palila birds nest in these trees and feed on their seeds and native caterpillars found only in their seedpods. The sheep also feed on mämane trees, consuming some of the food sources that the critically-endangered palila bird depend on. But even more worrisome to conservationists, the sheep have a tendency to kill young mämane trees, destroying in the long-term the final habitat for palila birds.
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