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From: Rae OkawaCD
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2025 11:24 AM
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To: Council Testimony
Subject: Testimony re. Resolution 140-25
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Testimony re. Resolution 140-25
77
Aloha e Hawai`i County Council members,
I am a Kawaihae resident with a degree in Biology and a Masters in Environmental Studies. I am providing this
testimony on behalf of myself, and not on behalf of any other individual, group or organization.
I am appreciative of the hard work of Animal Control, I know their kuleana is not an easy task. I fully support
spay and neuter support for owned pets kept indoors. I cannot support this resolution if funding is going towards
cats being abandoned back onto the landscape. If this funding could be restricted to owned, indoor pets
that would be a huge help in making responsible pet ownership obtainable by more members of our
community. I fully support responsible pet ownership and helping those with limited resources take the steps
needed to be a responsible pet owner. I also understand that critical spay and neuter procedures require financial
resources — both for the pet owner that wants to do the right thing and for the veterinary professionals providing
the service. Having a source of designated funding will help provide that relief.
What I cannot support is funding that provides for the populations of an animal known for its negative impacts
on public health, community sanity, and native wildlife; to persist on our landscape. In previous testimony for
this bill, Hawaii DLNR Chair Chang stated that "Feral cats are a significant threat to Hawai`i''s endangered
forest birds, seabirds, and other native species. The Department is mandated to protect and manage Hawai`i's
natural resources, including its native bird populations, and trap -neuter -return (TNR) has not been shown to be
an effective method to reduce feral cat populations.". Looking at the impact of spay/neuter on individual cats is
short-sighted. On a population -level, there's no way to spay and neuter enough cats to cause the growth of the
current free -roaming cat populations in Hawaii to become a decline. The only thing financially supporting
TNR will do is foster an environment that makes people think that keeping cats on the landscape is financially
supported and county -sanctioned, emboldening those maintaining colonies and giving irresponsible cat owners
an easy out, potentially increasing abandonment. Abandoning cats on the landscape is not humane for the cats
themselves as well.
Mahalo for the opportunity to provide comments. And mahalo for your work on this issue..
Best,
Rae Okawa
Kawaihae, HI
Comm.
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