Opossum captured at Kona big box store turned over to state

COURTESY HDOA An opossum was captured at a big box store in Kona over the weekend, according to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

COURTESY HDOA An opossum was captured at a big box store in Kona over the weekend, according to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture.

State officials say they have euthanized an opossum found at a big box store in Kona over the weekend.

Opossums—considered an invasive species—are illegal in Hawaii because they pose a potential threat to the environment and are carriers of parasites and other diseases.

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture officials said today that the store contacted them at about 11 p.m. Saturday to report trapping an opossum on-site. An inspector retrieved the animal early Sunday morning, and arranged for its transport to Honolulu.

The male opossum weighed about six pounds and was euthanized to be tested for rabies, officials said.

An opossum trapped at a big box store in Iwilei in mid-December met a similar fate. That opossum tested negative for rabies, according to the department.

Agriculture officials encourage anyone who spots an illegal animal to report it at 808-643-PEST (7378 ).

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Other opossums were captured in Hawaii in :—August at a Kalihi freight company after workers saw it run into a shipping container.—Julyon a window ledge of an office building in downtown Honolulu.—June 2016 by workers offloading a cargo ship at Honolulu Harbor.—July 2015 near the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Office on Ala Moana Boulevard, an area surrounded by arriving cargo.—July 2012 in an animal trap at a Sand Island warehouse.—August 2011 in a shipping container near Ward Center.—2005 inside a military cargo plane at Hickam Air Force Base, and a second opossum was caught at the U.S. Postal Service facility at Honolulu airport.

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