---
title: "It’s not just cats.  Nine Wedge-tailed Shearwaters are killed by dogs on Kauai"
---

# It’s not just cats.  Nine Wedge-tailed Shearwaters are killed by dogs on Kauai

![Wedge tailed dog kill ARC](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Shearwaters/Wedge_tailed/Wedge-tailed_dog_kill_ARC.jpg)*Wedge-tailed Shearwater corpses after the dog attack, photograph from**Archipelago Research and Conservation*

 The Hawaii-based environmental consultancy, [Archipelago Research and Conservation](https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064243893672&__cft__%5b0%5d=AZUhX2Iovupqvlnwn_ZSt8i5i56Dw_kCl3vfnq8UhebsIDC30cDeaSPz0kRgBPAkB0OAT-Qi72CJz4RaVyhaLY8WBrGzqNAeBGDOOllav22FpgBkJuZ9Ksb6T1Kx6avKbylB_D5RfVlr654v4Z9Ot-fGZUIJ7LcHeSkQpVEmZ4tflKFLoV9CrL6UEGzkCy29K6A&__tn__=-UC%2CP-R) (ARC) has recently reported on its Facebook page of a mass killing of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters *Ardenna pacifica* by dogs on the inhabited island of Kauai.  “Another mass slaughter of 'ua'u kani (Wedge-tailed Shearwater) by dogs, this time on the [Maha'ulepu Heritage Trail](https://www.kauai.com/mahaulepu-beach-trail) - at least 8 adults and a chick. Dog owners, please keep your dogs on leash!!”

 This is not the first report of dogs killing shearwaters on the island.  In 2017 a stray dog killed 32 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters within the Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands ([PMRF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Missile_Range_Facility)). The dog was caught and euthanized.  “Wedgies” on Kauai are also at risk to feral pigs ([click here](https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/a-feral-pig-kills-a-wedge-tailed-shearwater-on-the-hawaiian-island-of-kauai?highlight=WyJwaWdzIiwicGlnIiwia2F1YWkiLCJrYXVhaSdzIl0=)).

 Free-roaming dogs have also [attacked and killed](https://www.acap.aq/news/news-archive/2013-news-archive/curb-that-cur-yet-more-laysan-albatrosses-are-killed-by-dogs-running-wild-on-kaua-i) breeding Laysan Albatrosses *Phoebastria immutabilis* and their chicks on the island on multiple occasions over the years.

 *John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses* *and Petrels, 18 September 2025*