HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0283.196 2024-2026From: Koohan Paik-Mander
Sent: Sunday, July 6, 2025 9:56 AM
To: Galimba, Michelle M.; Hustace, James; Inaba, Holeka; Kagiwada,..Jennifer; Kanealii-
I ' f Id M tt K' k• wicz Ashle Kimball Heather Onishi Dennis: Ville
m K ea er, a , ier ie y, , F:� /
Rebecca; Council Testimony QC-�,
Subject: Oppose Bill 51 r`— 1E
�! p -�
Aloha Honorable Councilmembers, _
I would not be fully aware of the harms to both homeless cats and community members tQ thd>:7z
passage of Bill 51 would foster had I not recently rescued an abandoned 3-week old kitter?She `was
starving and in great need of care. I took her in, but only temporarily since I need to be off -island
for the next several months. I cannot keep her. So, during the time that I had her, I reached out to
all the sanctuaries on the island. I figured there would be no problem. Boy, was I mistaken. None of
them had any room -- or so I thought. Finally, one of them came through and was willing to take
her.
However, before I was made aware that the one sanctuary had space for the kitten, I was in a
pickle. I scrambled to think of where she could go. Many people would have no qualms about
leaving her to starve, which would be the default consequence of passing Bill 51. But that goes
against my grain in a very deep way -- almost in a. religious way -- to do this. It is really a question
of ethics.
Then I had an idea for a solution.... there were three separate individuals in my area who feed our
community cats (incidentally, on County property). One of them is my next door neighbor who just
had four feral cats dumped on the road in front of his house. He took them in to have all four
spayed or neutered and now he feeds them regularly. It's called "kindness." That's a rare thing these
days.
Had the one sanctuary not opened its doors to the kitten, my neighbor would have been a solution --
because, so far, he and other animal lovers are not criminalized for providing food to homeless
animals, even if they have had them spayed or neutered. But Bill 51 would change all that.
Notice that I am not speaking of "feral" cats. I am speaking of homeless cats who share our
community. Feral cats are those in the mountains and jungle and are considered invasive species
` and are targets of eradication periodically just as the feral pigs and goats are --slaughtered from
helicopters and left to die in the fields.
Community cats are the abandoned, lost, stray cats who were owned or the progeny of former pet
cats. These cats are socialized to some degree and are very fearful or skittish --not wild and
feral. This 1S a Very important distinction. S�
COMM.
Tc: - -L
g
Ref. Pave, 2025
In our industrialized culture, it's always "the easy route" to eradicate through starvation, just like it's
easier to do homeless sweeps than provide necessary social services, just like it's easier to clear-cut
the thousands of acres of eucalyptus trees in Hamakua and burn them up, rather than mill them for
housing or furniture (no, they are not useless junk trees -- I have checked into it), just like it's easier
to conduct mass deportation of "illegals" with no due process. But settling for "easiness" makes an
end run around efforts to find solutions that work for all stakeholders, not just for those in positions
of power. Was it Gandhi who said that a society is to be measured by how its most vulnerable are
treated?
In the case of Bill 51, the most vulnerable are the many people Whose love for animals is
so great that they spend their limited income to both sterilize and feed
these creatures. These folks should not be criminalized. Their/our hearts
should not be broken.
As you may know, there is a pilot program currently in existence in the Bayfront parks to
"Trap/Neuter/Retum or Relocate" cats, which will be using trained/certified colony managers and
volunteers. This is a perfect example of a solution that is also life -affirming. Bill 51 would destroy
that pilot program and would criminalize all who continue to feed the cats. That would be
regressive lawmaking.
I know I am not alone in feeling very disturbed by the way that our culture is normalizing cruelty.
If Bill 51 were to pass, it would be yet another blow to the spiritual collapse of contemporary
society. I want to live in a community where people aspire to be the best they can be -- mentally,
spiritually, culturally and economically. Kindness and imagination are central to that.
Please vote No on the regressive Bill 51. It is cruel, bereft of imagination, and undermines the
Bayfront pilot program that brings the community together.
Thank you for your leadership.
Koohan Paik-Mander
A A ~