The Barn Owl was brought in by the Board of Agriculture and Forestry from 1958-1963 to eat rats in the sugarcane fields. The Barn Owls are generalist predators, eating near any meaty things they can catch, so they have been a massive success and have spread all across the islands.
No evidence exists showing they did anything to resolve the rat issue though! 😧
Hawaii has one other owl:
The Barn Owl was brought in by the Board of Agriculture and Forestry from 1958-1963 to eat rats in the sugarcane fields. The Barn Owls are generalist predators, eating near any meaty things they can catch, so they have been a massive success and have spread all across the islands.
No evidence exists showing they did anything to resolve the rat issue though! 😧