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I went home distressed and came back with a big dug of water antl the woman I am renting from There was a man there from the community with food he had brought himself feeding the dogs in the drop off unds He said he came often to feed the animals m the drop off units because they never seemed to have food and water The three of us stayed there till close to 5PM No attendant ever came My landlady and I took the paralyzed cat to the local vet where I paid to have him euthan¢ed Later that evenmg I was driving by the shelter at 6 30PM and noticed the attendant was finally there I drove in and offered to help her She refused my help She said she had been there last at 6AM that day When I drove back by at 8 30PM her truck was still there That evenmg, I attended a midweek church service at small church m Waikoloa I shared with some local residents my experience at the shelter and they became concerned and proposed a meeting at the shelter the next morning to see for themselves February 7, Thursday I and community residents gathered at the local shelter at 11 30 AM The conditions were similar to the night before except the drop off units were empty of dogs and most cats Even some of the dogs m the regular kennels that were there the day before were gone and replaced with other dogs Cn~~ld his single attendant have euthanized so many animals last naht m thie_ tpy fa ili I wondered. emce Cher wa< < ~ h a large turnover in dogs in less than 24 hours9 How did she do its Where were the carcasses? Posted public hours were to begin at noon No one came The dogs behind the fence were without water and some wthout food The attendant finally came around 1 30PM and called her supervisor, Grayson Hashida, whom I visited with for about 1/2 hour regarding my experience and concerns He said the Waimea facility had been understaffed for a period of days or weeks, I wasn't clear which He welcomed the idea of my trying to find community volunteers to make up the difference but he didn't want them to have a key to the facility I thought, how can volunteers help when staff with keys are here so sporadically?~ I go back to the mainland March 1 Unfortunately, this very negative encounter on the Big Island of Hawau will be foremost m my mind Will I tell others about my negative experience on the Big Islands Yes Will they tell others9 Probably When I first experienced all this, I hoped it was all a mistake, that what I observed was a temporary lapse in service to the Waimea shelter because of some unusual circumstance As I visited with more and more local residents, more and more sad stories emerged of negative experiences stretched out over months and years -reportedly inhumane euthanizing and dumping carcasses at a local dump site, someone who went to adopt an animal and left because the facility was very dirty and the animals appeared diseased, someone who found a stray but wouldn't take it to the shelter because of the inadequate care she was sure it would receive, someone who left in tears at puppies shivering on the cold, concrete floor wdh no bedding to lie on, and most distressing of all, people who shook their heads and said "I know it's bad I dust avoid going over there " Mr Mayor and Council Member your community is hurting over this issue This letter and other letters and voices you will hear from your community are wake up calls to you PLEASE, PLEASE HELP With Best arils, Pamela Wainer, Ed D