HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0283.136 2024-2026tai
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From: Lisa Lane
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Sent: Sunday, July 6, 2025 10:20 AM
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To: Council Testimony
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Subject: Oppose Bill 51
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Aloha Chair Inaba, Vice Chair Onishi, and Members of the Council,
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My name is Lisa Lanr Cardin, and I am a Co -Founder and board member of Aloha Animal
Alliance, a Hawaii -based nonprofit. Our mission is to design and run programs that help
save and improve animal live by empowering the people who love and care for them.
That includes providing spay/neuter and microchip clinics, organizing pop-up wellness
services for underserved communities, and creating structured, data -driven solutions for
managing community cats.
Additionally I have more than 20 years experience in the animal welfare industry,
working at both the community and national levels.
Aloha Animals has drafted and shared a Hawaii Island Master Plan for companion
animals on Hawaii Island. It can be views at alohaanimals.ora. It includes a research -
backed sustainable approach to the cat situation on Hawaii Island. And starts
with data -driven TNVRM pilot project —Managed Trap -Neuter -Return. It includes
certified caregiver training, digital colony tracking, controlled feeding locations, and a
collaborative oversight model. We intentionally chose to start in a challenging area that
includes coastline, tourism zones, and sensitive habitat —because if it can work there, it
can work anywhere.
Over the last two years and counting, we have built a multifaceted project teamthat
includes local government, business leaders, environmental advocates, volunteers, and
residents. This is a broad -based effort —meant to build a model the County can be proud
of. But now we have this ill conceived Bill whixh threatens to undo -all the hard work and
trust we've built to bring organizations and community cats caretakers together.
All while
Five years after the pandemic began, our county shelters remain closed to the
public.
That means people who cannot keep an animal —due to eviction, hardship, allergies, or
illness havr no choice but to surrender on the streets or in the parks.
Additionally the county continues to waste tax payer dollars on an abysmal, outdated
animal control model which is a public embarrassment. Should taxpayers be satisfied
with a system that spends $1000 an animals to round them up from the streets, house
them while they await transport to a rescue Or the 50% are killed.
Comm. Qo
So what choice does a citizen have? Ref. Toll
1 Ref. Date L 202-5
Either turn the cat in to a system where space is limited, transfer partners are few, and
survival is not guaranteed —or release the animal into the wild and hope someone will
care for it. This is the heartbreaking reality for many residents.
That's why programs like ours that address the systemic issues are so critical. And yet,
Bill 51, as currently written, threatens to criminalize even the most responsible of
efforts.
We support the intent of this bill —to reduce the number of free roaming cats but 51
won't move the needle.
What it will do is erode public trust. It discourages participation. It pushes the work of
caring for cats underground again —where it cannot be measured, improved, or
supported.
Let's try something different.
Lisa lane cardin
805-451-0154
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