Honolulu Police captured a skunk Wednesday night at Kakaako Waterfront Park after receiving a 911 call that the smelly critter was running around the park near Keawe Street.

Police contacted the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, which dispatched three agriculture inspectors at 10:30 p.m. By the time they arrived on scene, police officers had already captured the skunk in a plastic trash bin. 

HDOA is testing the skunk for rabies, which requires euthanizing the animal. 

The state agency said it’s not clear how the creature got to Oahu and how long it has been here, but noted that the area it was found is right next to Honolulu Harbor. Skunks have been captured in Feb. 2018, Jan. 2021, July 2021, June 2022, and Oct. 2024 after apparently hitchhiking aboard cargo ships. On Maui, inspectors captured a skunk at Kahului Harbor in December 2020 and another at a trucking company in August 2018. Also on Maui, the Department of Land and Natural Resources captured a skunk at Kanahā Pond State Wildlife Sanctuary in August 2022. In 2023, a Hilo resident caught a skunk in a mongoose trap. All previously captured skunks have tested negative for rabies.

The state of Hawaii prohibits skunks, which are only allowed with a permit for research and exhibition in a municipal zoo. Skunks live in the continental U.S., Canada, South America, Mexico and other parts of the world. The Centers for Disease and Control considers skunks, bats, foxes, and racoons to be the four primary wild carriers of rabies, a fatal viral disease of mammals that is often transmitted through the bite of an infected animal. Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. and one of the few places in the world that is free of rabies.