Culture

Animal Smugglers Flew Deer, Sheep into Hawaii

They have no predators on new home. Ecosystem now all screwed up.

|

A helicopter pilot is pleading guilty to illegally flying deer from Maui to the Big Island, shedding light on a mystery that has been bewildering Hawaii: How did axis deer, an animal that can't swim across the ocean, get to another island?

But now federal authorities say the people behind the scheme also took several mouflon sheep from the Big Island and flew them to Maui.