If You Have To Ask, It's Probably Not Yours...

Passengers onboard an Omni Air charter flight from Las Vegas to Honolulu last week were surprised to find an unexpected stowaway wandering the cabin: a 10-inch long sugar glider, or Petaurus breviceps -- a small member of the possum family.

According to a story in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, passenger Ron Takakawa noticed the creature while watching a movie aboard the chartered plane. He captured the sugar glider after his wife, Keun Yi, was startled from sleep by the animal jumping onto her.

(A scene, no doubt, that at least briefly proved more entertaining to their fellow passengers than the movie, "The Longest Yard.")

According to Hawaii Department of Agriculture Chairwoman Sandra Lee Kunimoto, a passenger aboard the flight was likely attempting to smuggle the sugar glider into Hawaii, where the creatures are illegal. The scenario became more likely as ground crews servicing the aircraft found a package of animal food, and a small leopard-print pouch that may have been used to transport the animal.

"Many animals are illegal in Hawaii because they have the potential to cause harm to agriculture and the environment, and may pose health risks to animals and humans," said Kunimoto.

"As this latest incident demonstrates, exotic animals have a knack at escaping from captivity... the worst-case scenario would be for these types of animals to become established and/or spread diseases," Kunimoto added Monday in a news release.

The animal is currently being kept at the Plant Quarantine Branch until arrangements can be made to transport it out of the state. Sugar gliders are native only to Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea, where the omnivorous marsupial -- which can glide briefly from tree to tree -- feeds on insects, nectar and eucalyptus sap.

Officials fear an invasion of sugar gliders (a phrase I never thought I'd write -- Ed.) could strip bark off the koa trees native to Hawaii, push out other established species while competing for food, and even potentially bring non-native diseases such as rabies and lyme disease to the 50th state.
 
While possessing illegal animals can lead to jail time and a maximum $200,000 fine in Hawaii, those possessing such animals often turn them in under the Agriculture department's Amnesty Program, according to the Star-Bulletin.

FMI: www.hawaiiag.org, www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Glider