Let’s get real Mr. Atwood. I agree the islandwide response to the lava crisis in Puna was noble. It was a heroic effort with many risking their lives and freedom to save trapped animals. The community of Puna was caught with no emergency plan for their animals which was suggested to HIHS by the ASPCA when we experienced the 2014 lava event.
Another critical element you are missing was the intentional stalling of HIHS when the ASPCA was online with their emergency response team days after the crisis started. The ASPCA came in a month after the lava flow started and only after a considerable amount of pressure was applied to HIHS by county council members and the public. By then many lives were lost and much need supplies that could have been provided were denied to our community from both the ASPCA and Best Friends.
Your attributing impounds being down by a full 35 percent due to the spay-neuter efforts of HIHS alone is inaccurate. It ignores the massive efforts of our local rescue organizations that work tirelessly to hold consistent, high volume, low or no cost M.A.S.H.-style spay-neuter clinics. They hold these clinics on a monthly basis and have been for years with little or no state or county fiscal commitment. They provide our community with over 2,500 spay-neuter surgeries annually. That is an “aggressive approach.” It is profoundly disrespectful to take sole credit for work the rescue community delivers.
At our last county council session no accurate numbers were provided regarding the county funded spay-neuter coupon program. That program was determined to be inadequate in meeting the needs of our island’s pet overpopulation due to cost and delivery. The spay-neuter waggin’ is a wonderful development and it is also inadequate.
The waggin’ will generate under 500 spay-neuter surgeries annually. According to calculations determined by our island rescues organizations along with Animal Balance, we need to conduct 5,000 spay-neuter surgeries annually for a period of three to five years to bring our pet population to a sustainable level. This problem has been growing for decades with no viable plan offered by either HIHS or the County of Hawaii, who spend our tax dollars. HIHS receives $2.2 million annually with a 5 percent increase and has offered no strategic plan and no change in the animal control contract in over 25 years but made a concerted effort to thwart any life-changing proposals brought to the table.
Another aspect overlooked that contributed substantially to the decrease in the impound rate is the choices people make when surrendering their pets.
It is widely understood that 70 percent of animals that enter the shelter leave out the back door in black rubbish bags and are buried in the landfill. That’s not a “welcome” that embraces our cultural foundation of aloha. People are surrendering their animals to our island rescue organizations, re-homing them on their own, or using a variety of mainland organizations to avoid the possibility of having their animals die as a result of being surrendered to HIHS. Looking at the numbers reported on your website, you are still killing close to 70 percent of animals impounded. So, although you are saying the impound numbers are down by 35 percent, why are the kill rates unchanged?
That brings me to the last service provided by our island rescues and unrecognized by HIHS, adoption services. A huge mahalo ought to go out to our rescues that provide adoption services which account for over 100 adoptions/transfers and long-term fostering a month. Many of those numbers are counted as adoptions by HIHS but are the result of the expertise and hard work of our island rescues.
Thanks go to all the rescue organizations that have worked tirelessly and with total dedication. They receive little thanks, no recognition and scarce funding and yet they do a phenomenal job.
Hopefully our island can experience a well deserved paradigm shift with the new HIHS directors.
Ana Nawahine-Kaho’opi’i is a resident of Waimea.