Wild dog kills Puna farmer’s flock of chickens and ducks on Christmas Eve

For the previous week, farmer Jarid Keen’s 30 chickens and ducks were hiding inside their coop to avoid the rain. But on Christmas Eve, it was perfect weather for them to graze outside on his 3-acre Orchidland property, eating bugs.

But the beautiful Sunday took a nasty turn when the 30-year-old returned with his college friend from a farmer’s market at 9:30 a.m. and found a white and black pit bull mix caught in his newly installed electric fence.

Keen grabbed his gun and shot at the animal, but missed. The dog escaped.

Instead of preparing a Christmas Eve meal, Keen spent his holiday driving around the neighborhood looking for the dog and warning other farmers about the canine.

“We were going to make a ham dinner, but after all the birds were killed, no one wanted to eat,” Keen said. “We ended up going to Kaleo’s and having a few beers to try and forget.”

Keen moved to Puna six months ago to start a farm, which includes growing fruits and vegetables.

But since he started buying livestock to raise for eggs and meat, Keen has been plagued by wild dogs coming onto his property and killing his animals. In the last three months, Keen has lost $1,500 worth of livestock or property damage. This includes the mauling of 25 of his 30 birds on Christmas Eve, for an $850 loss.

“It really ruined my Christmas,” Keen said. “I literally just bought that fence and it already has a hole in it.”

Keen has yet to be able to raise his chickens and ducks to adulthood when they will start producing eggs. The longest he’s been able to keep his animals alive is eight weeks.

On Christmas Day, Keen, fortunately, found four of his Red Star hens and a white silky chicken alive. But he spent most of the holiday looking for the dead birds in the pasture and tall grass on the property. He hasn’t been able to find them all: “I smell them and I hear the flies but I can’t find them in the grass.

“My chickens didn’t deserve that. They are kind, sweet birds that love to get pets every morning when I feed them.”

The 30 birds were meant to be his breeding flock that would expand his business to 300 birds by the end of next year.

“Now I’ll have to buy another 30 birds and start over,” he said.

Keen called the police on Sunday to file a report. He said it took two hours for officers to arrive. By then, the dog was long gone.

Hawai‘i Island police confirmed they were investigating the incident. Puna Patrol is doing neighborhood checks to locate and contact the dog’s owner. Hawai‘i County’s new Animal Control and Protection Agency will also be notified of the complaint.

While authorities are looking for an owner, Keen said these dogs that are killing his animals as well as other livestock in the neighborhood are strays. They have no collars.

“These dogs are being dumped by people who don’t want them,” Keen said. “No one’s looking for them so it’s left to farmers to deal with the problems they cause.”

Keen said it’s only a matter of time until these animals attack a child.

Aggressive dogs have already attacked people in Puna. In August, a 71-year-old man in Ocean View was mauled to death by a pack of dogs.

At this point, Keen thinks the only solution is for Gov. Josh Green to deploy the Hawai‘i National Guard to do patrols to kill the aggressive dogs to reduce the numbers.