Arrest Made As Rescue Workers Continue To Remove Leis From Wildlife

An arrest was made today in a case that has thrown Lahaina in the national spotlight and left environmentalists shaking their heads. 43-year-old Gary Puniwale was taken into custody and charged with harassing wildlife after placing leis on hundreds of animals in West Maui including endangered sea turtles and birds. Puniwale claims that he was simply trying to win a contest and had no idea affixing the flowered necklaces could be dangerous to wildlife. Officials are calling his actions one of the most irresponsible acts they have ever seen.

It all started early on New Year’s day with reports from owners finding their pets with leis glued to their necks. Parks officials were inundated with calls about squirrels and birds sporting the traditional Hawaiian necklaces as well. Soon hundreds of photographs of lei sporting animals were uploaded to a “Living Lahaina” page, an initiative designed to highlight the natural beauty and wildlife of the West side of the island. For the next few days, hundreds of garland ladened animals were rescued including turtle hatchlings and rare birds, while officers searched for those responsible.

Now, almost two weeks after the first flowered squirrel was discovered officials have made an arrest. Lahaina resident Gary Puniwale is accused of gluing leis onto hundreds of animals and uploading images through at least a dozen different accounts. Puniwale says he was just trying to take the top prize in the Living Lahaina contest.

Mayor Albert Cravalho says he’s glad that an arrest was made and disappointed that a program designed to highlight Lahaina’s wild beauty caused so much harm. “I just can’t imagine what Gary was thinking,” he says.

“Living Lahaina was designed to highlight what an extraordinary place West Maui is. Not only are we the home of Veilcorp and a center of innovation and technology, but we live in the most beautiful place on Earth. Vibrant flowers and exotic birds thrive next to buildings where tomorrow’s technology is born. We’re surrounded by some of the bluest waters you’ve ever seen and our reefs are a divers paradise. When we asked the public to share their best pictures of the natural wonders that make living in Lahaina unlike any other place in the world we didn’t imagine that someone would start gluing flowers to animals.”

In addition to shutting down Lahaina’s first marketing campaign of the year, Greg Ionia, senior investigator for the DLNR, says Puniwale’s actions may have lasting effects on some critically endangered animals.

“This is hands down the most irresponsible thing I have ever seen in my 15 years with the agency. There are less than 200 crested honeycreepers left in the wild and Mr. Puniwale glued leis to 3 of them. We haven’t been able to definitively tie him to all the accounts posting pictures of these poor animals, but of the ones we have, it appears that Gary interacted with 8 different protected species. For me, the worst was the green sea turtles. We’re talking about a species that has already been pushed to the brink. Their normal breeding cycle has been altered by months because of global warming and changing ocean currents. With so much working against them, the last thing the hatchlings needed was to be overloaded with leis that weigh as much as they do as they fight for their lives through the surf. It’s heartbreaking and inexcusable.”

For his part, Puniwale says he’s sorry about any harm he may have caused but had no idea that his actions were illegal. In addition, he says that his use of multiple accounts to submit photos to the Living Lahaina webpage was to avoid any bias his name holds with city council members and not to avoid the consequences of his actions.

“I’ve had a few unfortunate mishaps over the years that made the news and put a target on my back with some city council members so I figured using different accounts was the way to go. At no time did I think that I was hurting the animals I put leis on. I mean we’ve been putting leis on people who visit the islands for decades. In retrospect, I should have known that gluing flowers to animals to win a photography contest was wrong when I saw that the honey catchers and hummingbirds weren’t strong enough to fly with them attached.

I’m willing to take full responsibility for my actions but what upsets me the most is hearing people say that what I was doing was stupid and lazy. They have obviously never tried to attach leis to hatching turtles in the dark. It’s not like the turtles mark where they’ve laid eggs. You have to run up and down a few miles of beach carrying pounds of flowers and glue sticks looking for the slightest movement in the sand. It’s not a job for the dimwitted. On top of that, you only have seconds to fight off the birds trying to eat the hatchlings and stick the flowers on them before they get in the surf. You can call that a lot of things, but lazy isn’t one of them.”