HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0642.065 2020-2022 1( 1,25
row.6,14,2
RE: Bill 125
Dear County Council:
Here is my written testimony for Bill 125
10/17/2021
NAME: Janice Kelhanaikukauakahlhullheekahauanele-Keanaalna Aka Loke
EMAIL: ALJNTYLOKEQ�i,.GMAIL.COM
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BREED OF DOGS PERPETRATOR: 3 POSSIBLY 4 PITBULLS I FEMALF;Z
AND 2 ALL PURPLE GREY FEMALE LARGER MAYBE 120LBS?
INCIDENT LOCATION: Our home 92-9139 Hawaiii Blvd
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Ocean View, HI 96737
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DATE/TIME: 10/13/2021 4:29PM
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VICTIMS:
Eleele 15 year old Akita/ChowChow crushed skull and eye hanging out
Maka 6 year old Akita/ChowChow/mystery father. Neck and ears stretched, torn
and bite marks on his body. Witnessed the murder of his mother
Myself witnessing the HORROR of her murder in our driveway and having to put
down the best dog in my life. Having been terrorized by the pitbulls since
8/29/2021, 1 feel like we have been in a battle. I am not well healthwise fighting a
battle for my life and this has all made my health worse.
Samuel Keanaaina, Jr, my husband, 100% disabled PTSD Vietnam Veteran finding
what happened to his therapy dog in our driveway!! And reliving flashbacks much
more intensely. And, his therapy dog, Eleele, mauled, bloody, skull crushed.
INCIDENT FACTS: WHAT HAPPENED
Wednesday October 13, 2021 1 was in the house when I heard dogs fighting. By
the time I got to the driveway, the damage was done. My dog Eleele's face was
bloody and her eye hanging out, her skull crushed and still alive.. There were three
pitbulls from across the street in our driveway attacking my dogs. They had dug
underneath our fence to get in. Maka was on a leash and he had gotten lose and
being grabbed by the pitbulls by the ears. I yelled and made big noise and the dogs
scattered. I began tending to my dogs. The pitbulls ran out the driveway. I thought
all three got out, but later we found a forth dog was in our yard and had gone into
the bushes rather than out. My husband pulled into the driveway just then and saw
Eleele. He quickly grabbed a tarp and lay her on it. I called 91 lwhen he was
pulling in. Dispatch was mad at me for calling 911 for a dog but that was beyond
Comm. No
Ref. To:
Ref. Date MA I-Lza-
your typical dog call and told her just a matter of time before it is a human and
dispatch dispatched 3 police officers. My friend came by to support us. Animal
control was called and were not available. They were supposed to come get the
dog in the bushes. We waited another hour to have animal control come. They
were not coming for the vicious dogs!! What? The dangerous vicious dogs were
being left across the street!!! I thought the law was that they would be taken and
put down immediately!!! They were coming for the dog in our yard only. It turns
out they never came to get that dog. We got home from the vet at midnight and the
dog was still in our yard.
The next day the dog went home while it was still dark. The pitbulls were then
taken to a friend of the owner's. No one knows where those dogs went and there is
no way of knowing they are the same dogs that mauled my dog and terrorized the
neighborhood. These dogs were not chipped and no record by Animal Control.
We need to have law requiring the dangerous dog be taken away from the
neighborhood until the judge decides what the fate of the dog is and to be chipped
and record kept on the dog's history.
It turns out that the pitbulls were left behind when the family that owns them
moved away four months prior to the incident. The dogs were not properly
contained and it was very easy for them to get from under their gate. They had
been getting out and chasing people on the road. The dogs were left to guard a
marijuana grow operation. The dogs had been barking more anmore aggressively
over the months. They became more aggressive when our maka'i next door
neighbor let her boyfiriend leave his undisciplined dog with him and her dog. This
dog barked incessantly and it was chasing people walking on the road. After that
dog was removed by the owner when the police had finally after 2 months
educated her of the barking dog laws. The pitbulls acoss the street were answer
barking at that dog. When it was gone, they continued to bark incessantly.
We could not leave a message on the gate for the owner because the dogs were
always at the gate. The police could not leave a note for the same reason. Animal
control was never called to assess the situation.
Outcome: We took Eleele and Maka to the hospital. Eleele was put to sleep.
Maka was examined and cleaned up. We went home with her to be buried the next
day and Maka. We have both been reeling from the trauma and seeing what the
dogs did to her in our minds. An old dog who was deaf and probably never heard
them coming.
This dog Eleele, was a dog that had a way of caring for you when you have a hard
time. My husband lives with nightmares of combat in Vietnam every night. This
was devastating for him. It was devastating for me cause she was my therapy dog
too. Seeing that image in our minds is the hardest part. And thinking of what a
way for such a dog to go out of this life.
I was terrorized by those dogs for months as it escalated I was getting to be afraid
to open our gate to drive out because the dogs were barking aggressively when I
did. I was devastated when it was Eleele who got attacked.
The dogs are not across the street. And no one knows where they are.
The neighbor paid us a sum of restitution.
We learned that dangerous dogs are not taken anywhere. They remain with their
owners until the judge decides what the fate of the dogs is. This is not right. The
dogs get to continue to terrorize the victim. It is traumatizing enough to be
attacked but then to have the dogs remain is cruel.
The dogs need to be chipped with their record attached to that chip.
The owner of the dangerous dog needs stricter laws and bigger fines to be taken
seriously. Second offenders need much higher penalties. And the dogs need to be
euthanized. First offense the dog may need to be euthanized and still the owners
need to be educated. The dogs need to be taken away from neighborhood until the
judge decides.
I encourage you to pass this Bill 125 to clarify and organize the law better and to
add stricter penalties and the seizing of the dog(s).
There are so many stories of dog maulings in Ocean View and other areas on this
island. It is horrible to live feeling terrorized by a neighbor's dog. Then to be
attacked or your animals and pets attacked! This is a Public Safety Issue and needs
to be changed.
Mahalo nui loa!
Janice Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahauanele-Keanaaina Aka Loke
Ocean View, FII