The state plans to conduct an aerial hunt of invasive goats and sheep in the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve next week to protect the endangered palila bird.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources plans to shoot feral goats and sheep from helicopters next Tuesday and Wednesday.
The reserve will be closed to the public on those days.
The state will make carcasses available to the public for food.
Goats and sheep destroy mamane trees, which are the primary source of food for the palila forest bird.
The palila is a yellow-crowned songbird that lives on the upper slopes of Mauna Kea on the Big Island.
The rare bird’s population has plunged by more than 60 percent from 6,600 in 2002 to 2,200 last year.