An international animal nonprofit stopped in Keaau last week in hopes of making a small dent in a big problem — the island’s high number of homeless animals.
Records show 10,191 animals at the Hawaii Island Humane Society were put down in 2014, which is at least two-thirds of the roughly 15,000 homeless animals taken in annually. The Humane Society maintains the vast majority were unadoptable, and much of the problem lies in overpopulation — there are simply too many animals and not enough homes.
“If more people would step forward and have their animals spayed or neutered, we could fix the problem of homeless animals on Hawaii Island,” Hawaii Island Humane Society Executive Director Donna Whitaker told the Tribune-Herald in April.
Animal Balance, a 12-year-old nonprofit that conducts animal sterilization campaigns on islands around the world, aims to assist folks in doing just that. Last week, the organization teamed up with HIHS to set up its Mobile Animal Surgical Hospital in Keaau, and offer free neuter and spay surgeries for dogs and cats.
Volunteers helped fix more than 330 Big Island dogs and cats during the five-day period, exceeding HIHS’ goal of 300.
“Our mission is to work primarily on islands around the world, because we believe that we can make the most change on the islands,” said Emma Clifford, Animal Balance founder who is based in Washington state. “You can go in and count the number of animals that are there, sterilize them, and go back later and count them — and you can see that decrease in the population. So that’s our basic premise, to humanely reduce the populations and on islands, where we can see the difference and prove this strategy works.”
The program isn’t cheap to run. Clifford said costs run up to $15,000 per 500 animals sterilized. Much of that is funded through grants and donations, she said, coupled with help from volunteers — she has a mailing list of around 1,500 people around the world — who foot their own airfare to participate in trips.
HIHS offers spay and neuter programs year-round too, said shelter veterinarian Kristina Henricks, and she believes it’s “chipping away at the (overpopulation) problem continuously.”
“But it’s definitely really nice to be able to work with an organization that can come in and do a large quantity,” Henricks added. “They can come in here and offer a boost to whatever efforts we’re already doing.”
Tasi Autele, executive director of Kona-based Big Island Dog Rescue, applauded the effort and thinks more large-scale sterilization efforts are needed to lower euthanasia rates.
“The need is overwhelming,” Autele said. “We need to have these once a month, and do massive spay and neuter on every scale.”
Henricks said Animal Balance’s weeklong effort has already had ripple effects: Last Thursday, HIHS was “getting nonstop calls,” Hendricks said, and was booking more surgeries for the following week, after the nonprofit was slated to have left.
“If we can get to the point of no overpopulation, than every animal will be treated with the best respect,” Henricks said. “Right now, since there’s an overpopulation, animals become expandable. And we want animals to be commodities rather than expendable. We want them to be valued and part of the family.”