HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0140.046 2000-2002 truce Ka'imiloa Chrisman, M.®.
(44-2344 Mamalahoa Highway)
P.O. Box 1723
Honoka'a, Hawaii 96727-1723
(808) 775-9003
May 16, 2001
DOGS IN H~W~I'I:
FACTS AND IaELEV~NT CONCLUSIONS
INTRODUCTION:
All dog breeds are descended from wolves. Some greatly resemble wolves (husky)
whereas others bear little resemblance (Pekinese, Chihuahua). Closest to wolves in form
and character are "half breeds" of wolf and husky or perhaps German shepherd. Half-
breeds may not tame well and at times have proved unmanageable or even vicious. On
the other side of the coin are small "pet" dogs the size of cats, some of whom are
extremely docile and even timid as the result of many years, even centuries, of selective
breeding.
Other breeds have been very carefully created for such tasks as wolf hunting (Irish
wolfhound), fox hunting (foxhound), rabbit hunting (beagle), gamebird hunting (setters
and pointers, spaniels), fetching (retrievers}, fighting (pitbull), guarding and attack
(rottweiler, German shepherd, doberman), watchdogs (terriers), war (mastiffj, racoon and
deer hunting (hounds), hunting and show (poodles), tracking (bloodhound), samaritan
work (St. Bernard, Labrador retriever), badger-catching (dachshund}, sheep herding
{border collie), cattle herding (border collie, heeler), providing food (Hawaiian poi dog),
being lap dogs (lhasa apso, cocker, pomeranian, miniature poodles, etc.) and various
other purposes.
Some dog breeds are quite recent and others have been around for several thousand years
or more. Nonetheless, many dog breeds will go wild by choice or after becoming lost,
and will not seek to return to humans or "civilization", running off at the first sight or
sound of man. "Pack" formation with its wolf-like pecking order rapidly develops.
Phenotypic return to a more wild or wolf-like form also rapidly develops in just a few
generations. Pack behavior such as mass killing of sheep by wild dogs is notorious. All
dog breeds retain some traits of their wolf ancestors such as perineal scent identification,
scent marking with urine, submissive and intimidative postures, and turning around
repeatedly before lying down as if to matt down a bed.
Thus it can be summarized that all dogs retain some of their wolf ancestors' traits, many
dogs can successfully go wild without any training from their domestic parents, many
dogs retain traits to hunt, retrieve, fight, guard or kill, and some even look much like
wolves. Dogs, therefore, run the gamut in both appearance and genetic tr its all the way f ~t~
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from wolves or near-wolves to small, timid, docile pets. To label all dogs as "pets" is
therefore a human appellation based in wishful thinking and emotion, not reality and
genetic fact. We should take note that dogs have been domesticated, and all the diverse
breeds developed, in only the past 7 to 10,000 years -about the same length of time that
humans have developed agriculture or had the bow and arrow. This is a drop in the
bucked compared to the eons of time that both humans and wolves have been on the
earth, and thus from an evolutionary and genetic standpoint all domestic dogs are still
wolves. They just Lowdifferent, and only some are cute and docile and labelled "pets".
D®GS IN HAVd~AI'I:
The earliest foreign visitors to Hawaii reported that the Hawaiians raised small, terrier-
like dogs in large numbers for food and ceremonial feasts. A few small dogs were lap
dogs. Whether the Hawaiians had a larger, husky-like dog such as their close relatives,
the Maori of New Zealand (Aotearoa), did isconjectural -except that the Hawaiian
priests in 1778 were known to use a "tabu wand" made with a rather fluffy white dog's
tail quite like that of the Maori dogs. When the very powerful high chief Kahekili of
Maui invaded the Big Island in the late 1700's his army brought fighting dogs {the
historian Kamakau says Kahekili personally brought "two man-eating dogs"). There is no
record of any foreign visitor from Cook onward bringing such dogs, nor are they likely to
have been on the well-armed exploring ships of 1778 and later. Most likely these
fearsome dogs came from the shipwrecked foreigners prominent in Haw°aiian oral
tradition who arrived, in at least several instances, in the late 1400's and mid 1500's,
were most likely Spanish, and who might well have had mastiffs on board, based on other
Spanish history and practice in the Americas in the same period. Thus, large and fierce
dogs may have been part of the canine gene pool in Hawaii {at least in East Maui) for as
much as five hundred years.
Whether pre-contact Hawaiians used their dogs to hunt wild pigs has very little record,
perhaps because such a practice of subsistence hunting was so common amongst native
peoples worldwide that the early foreigners to visit Hawaii did not even think to mention
it, or perhaps it was not seen -since most early visitors spent their time near the seashore
rather than in the forests. (The modern claim that the Hawaiians kept their pigs only in
pens is incorrect, just as the concept is incorrect for native societies throughout the world.
Pigs simply love to escape and go off into the wild, as they continue to do to this day
despite highly bred domestication) It would be highly likely that the Hawaiians who lived
in the forest as outcasts, wood cutters, bird catchers and the like would snare wild pigs
and/or hunt them with the aid of their dogs as a source of food.
After 1778, foreign visitors rapidly introduced other dog breeds, bot11 American and
European, and Native American and Oriental dogs were surely introduced as well as part
of the fur, sandalwood, and whaling trades - in which hundreds of Hawaiians took part.
By the mid nineteenth century there were also many hunting dogs in Hawaii. In the
1850's the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa was reported to abound in both
wild pigs and wild dogs. Nineteenth century photographs in Hawaii show that hound-
like dogs were rather common, including amongst Hawaiians. In addition, thievery was
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present, as in almost all societies, and since there were wild pigs, wild sheep and goats,
and wild cattle to hunt in the uncultivated lands and forests it is reasonable that a goodly
portion of the nineteenth century dogs were hunting dogs and/or watchdogs.
The Hawaiian cattle industry being older than that of the famous "Old West", it is
probable that cattle dogs have been in Hawaii for well over one hundred years. Sheep
herding dogs have likely been here nearly as long also. Since formerly ducks, coots, stilts,
plover and other birds were hunted in Hawaii's wetlands in historic times, retrievers were
no doubt brought here. The arrival, in the late 1800's, of Portuguese immigrants -many
from the Canary Islands and Azores which are similar to the Hawaiian islands - no doubt
enhanced pig hunting considerably. Portuguese and Hawaiians make up the bulk of wild
pig hunters even today. Since wild pigs tend to be nocturnal and to be difficult to find
without dogs, highly selective breeding of pig hunting dogs has been going on for well
over one hundred years and such dogs are much a part of Hawaii's gene pool.
Meanwhile, a number of game birds were introduced to Hawaii in the late 1800's and
1900's. An accompanying presence and breeding of bird dogs has thus been in Hawaii
for many decades. Gambling being much a part of the old Hawaiian and Chinese
immigrant cultures, and dog-fighting being an American and European cultural practice
in the past, fighting dogs have found their way to Hawaii as well -witness the
prevalence of pit-bulls so favored as guard dogs and pig-hunting dogs today.
During the twentieth century, a great many of the world's dog breeds have been brought
to Hawaii, with so-called "pet" dogs and "show" dogs more likely in the closer confines
of `O'ahu's (especially Honolulu's) environment whereas the ranching and hunting
breeds are more likely on the other islands, notably the Big Island with its large land
areas.
CONCLUSIONS:
Dogs, like humans, show personality and cultural traits based in both nature and nurture -
in other words, some behavior is learned and some is inborn or instinctual. Nonetheless,
domestic dogs have evolved for only a few thousand years, as compared for hundreds of
thousands of years for humans, and the instinctual nature of dogs -stemming solely from
their genetic makeup - is readily apparent from such collective traits as those mentioned
above as well as the ease with which many dogs can go wild if given the opportunity.
Domestic dogs frequently demonstrate their genetic tendency to chase and catch, kill (ask
any cat), guard their territory, be loyal to their group members (human or animal) even to
the point of risking death, follow scents, and to roll in strongly odorous material (such as
cow-pies) to disguise their own scent as an aid to hunting. Male dogs will scale tall
fences, leap from second story windows, and even fight to the death to get to a female in
heat.
Dogs are notorious for digging out of a fenced yard or kennel to wander, sometimes
never coming back despite constant feedings and the best of care. Hundreds of stories,
spanning centuries, have been written worldwide about how much dogs love to hunt -
from terriers with rats to hounds with deer -and the humorous, even fantastic, efforts
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dogs put forth for a chance to go hunting. Similarly, a multitude of accounts detail how
dogs will continue to follow scent, and chase and catch game even if injured and even if
quite aware, from instinct and/or experience, that the quarry they are after is more than
capable of fighting back and injuring them (boars, bears, bucks, the larger cats,
aggressive antelope species, etc.) In Hawaii, particularly rural Hawaii, many dogs carry
distinct hunting traits.
Notably, almost all dog training methods rely on the "alpha dog" concept of the wolf
pack. The human owner or trainer takes on the "alpha dog" role and the dog accepts and
follows training as a natural part of pack subservience.
Who would claim that most dogs prefer to be confined, fenced, or chained to a doghouse
or a coconut tree rather than running in the wild with its "alpha dog" master or other
"pack-mates? The domestic dog so familiar to us all is thus, in large ways or small, a
wolf in other clothing. Even the family cocker spaniel, if it considers itself to be guarding
a home territory or new baby, or pups of its own, can suddenly turn into a startlingly
aggressive creature, taking on other animals or humans many times its size, and fighting
to the death if necessary. All postmen and meter-readers are acutely aware of these
canine instincts.
Thus it behooves us to always remember that dogs are dogs -not some totally
predictable humanoid "pet" which exists in the eye of the wishful human but not in the
mind and instinctual spirit of the dog. Disney has done our modern culture a great
disservice. Given the choice, many dogs much prefer "hunting" and the chance to run in
the wild -even at the risk of injury - to what humans consider the tranquil life of a home,
kennel or yard. Humans love to philosophize and moralize, and to deny our own
instinctive nature. It is improper to force our own philosophies on a dog, or to declare that
all dogs are the same or all are "pets". We should understand and appreciate the dog for
what he is, and enjoy both his domestic tendencies and his ancestral instincts.
B. Ka'imiloa Chrisman, M.D. copyright May, 2001
The Hawaii Humane society
Few people seem to know that the former Hawaii Humane Society Executive Director,
Lisa Fowler, and the current one, Grayson Hashida, are members of the Humane Society
of the United States (H.S.U.S.) and attend their national meetings. How many other
members of the Hawaii Humane Society's Board are also members has not been
determined. The H.S.U.S. is a major animal rights group, often mentioned in the media
right next to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (P.E.T.A.). They are simply
less radical and prefer a somewhat more subtle course toward the same goals and
purposes. The H.S.U.S. "assists" the many local humane societies with meetings and
propaganda, not funding, whereas its officers make more than $250,000 per year. It's
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Executive Director, Wayne Pacell, prides himself on being a Vegan (radical vegetarian
using no animal products whatsoever) and it leading the various anti-hunting initiatives
around the country, something at which he has been highly successful.
The Hawaii Humane Society has absolutely stonewalled both the hunting and other
concerned parties on the Big Island for the past year and a half, including Councilman
Yagong, who has been more than patient and diplomatic with them, and persist in their
policy that it is better to "euthanize" dogs than to allow them to be adopted where there
might be any "risk of injury" as in pig or other hunting. Lisa Fowler went so far as to tell
a meeting (the only one) of hunters, other citizens, an attorney, and Councilman Yagong
that they didn't need the County's $600,000 a year and would persist in this policy
regardless. Their veterinarian actually defended the frequent "euthanasia" of dogs as
preferable to them being allowed for pig hunting.
Trying to make all dogs "pets" in the H.S.U.S. fashion and ignoring the rural character of
the Big Island and the largely "helpmate" character of its dogs to justify frequent killing
of dogs not allowed to be adopted is onerous in the extreme, because it is a policy based
in what certain humans WISH dogs to be rather than what they are.
The following are several quotes from the H.S.U.S. Director, Wayne Pacell:
- "We have no ethical obligation
to preserve the different breeds
of livestock produced through
selective breeding....One
generation and out. We have no
problem with the extinction of
domestic animals. They are
creations of human selective
breeding."
Wayne Pacelle
Animal People
May 1993
-"If we could shut down all
sport hunting in a moment, we
would."
Wayne Pacelle
formerly of Friends of Animals
Impassioned Agitator
Associated Press
Dec. 30, 1991
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Here is another quote from a lengthy paper on the H.S.U.S.:
" HSUS with it's 1.3 million members calls it's self the nations largest animal protection
organization. Few people know that HSUS's animal protection philosophy is not animal
welfare but an animal rights philosophy that says It is morally wrong for humans to use
or kill animals and that they have had that philosophy since 1990.(1)In recent years HSUS
elected to call themselves "animal protectionists" to disassociate their group from the bad
press that the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and PETA have brought to animal rights."
causes.
CONCLUSION
I respectfully request the County Council, in view of the above, to insure that whoever
has the animal shelter contract on the Big Island never again be allowed to discriminate
for their own philosophical purposes who may or may not adopt a dog, unless that person
is a documented animal abuser. I further request that the Council, at another time soon,
perhaps, place in the Animal Shelter contract the requirement that all adopted dogs, and
all euthanized dogs, shall be measured from nose tip to tail base, weighed, and
photographed. This is for their own record keeping of adoption policy effectiveness, and
to insure the Council and the people of the Big Island that ALL dogs have an effective
chance of adoption.
Sincerely,
B. Ka'imiloa Chrisman, M.D.
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