HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0376.008 2000-2002 prepared by Casey O'Malley-Jones
Animal Rescue Coalition of Hawaii
November 6, 2()01
E'o~nts of d~scuss~on to present to the County Council ___!~!~~L_
~9~sa___..,r____ t.~ . r. 6.
(,314 ~ilPlGid! L'- . J , .
1. Last year alone there were over 16, 000 domestic animals turned into the Hawaii County I°lumane Society. (3f
those 16, 000 animals there were approximately 12, 0061 animals euthanized who were so badly abused, starved,
or in such an extreme state of neglect that medical treatment would be far to costly and extensive that it was an
act of mercy to put the animal down. I have personally seen photo's of some of these animals and I'm ashamed to
be a member of a society that allows this kind of horror to exist, and that there are no laws to protect them.
2. It seems that we live in a throwaway society. people go to pet shops or the humane society and adopt puppies
or kittens and once they are out of the baby stages and into the clumsy stage or become unruly adult animals, it
becomes too much trouble to teach them dicipline so they give them away, turn them into the humane society or
just dump them off on the road somewhere. It seems that some people in our society react much the same way to-
ward the babies that are born. However our society doesn't allow children to be dumped along the road, so they are
just abused or neglected for sometimes a long time before steps are taken to protect them.
3. 4~e live in Waikoloa village and there's a very large feral cat population there. lts easy to tell people to trap
the feral cats. In my experience its not that easy. We have had feral cats attack our domestic cats and in 3 different
instances one of my cats has been upped open so badly and been infected that the vet has had to do extensive sur-
gery each time and the costs are now up near the $1000:00 range, and my cat has now tested positive for feline
aids. Many of the term cats are carvers of feline aids and or luketnia which they can pass an to any other cat they
bite or scratch. The fact that these are your well cared for pets makes no difference, they can still get aids.
1 have also personally seen animals (in this case 4 dogs) tied to 4 different small trees in a small yard with a
short lead of perhaps 5 feet of rope (which they sometimes wound around the tree until they became unable to
move). 't'hese animals would go for days without food or water, and no way to get out of the hot summer sun.
Their fur was all clumped and matted, with open sores covered with flys laying their eggs in the sores and some
with maggots feeding on their flesh and no way to get away. 1 contacted the 1-lumane Society several times and
they were able to send someone out to talk to the owner. After they were there a couple of times, I observered that
the animals had some of their sores attended to, but after a couple of weeks things were back to the earlier situa-
tion. The times I spoke to the people at the I-~I-IS they indicated that they were doing all they could but their
hands were tied, and that there wasn't really much they could do because of the ways our laws are written.
5. "There have been different national studies done that have shown that the way we care for our animals and our
children is a snapshot of how civilized our society is as a whole. The studies also have shown there is a direct
correlation between violence toward animals and domestic violence. We also teach by example and show our chil-
dren how we value life as a whole by what they observe us do.
6. We can no longer ignore or refuse to see the continuing abuse of our island animals by turning our heads and
refusing to see. We see it everywhere, our friends, neighbors and even in our family's. We need to educate our
communities that its not (JK to allow abuse and/or neglect and that if it continue's beyond the second complaint
and the first citation being issued there are going to be consequences. By making our laws stronger and adopting
stronger ordinances, such as the model prepared and suggested by The 1-lumane Society of the US, in the Special
Study on The Status of Animal Control done last year, Its not just about animals roaming at large. It also relates to
their humane treatment. These ordinances are needed to educate the public as to their responsibility when they
take an animal, and that if they don't take adequate care and follow the laws there will be consequences, such as
escalating fines, doing community service at the Humane Society, so that these individuals can actually see some
of the problems the Humane Society faces nearly everyday, and the condition of some of the animals when they
are brought in.
!'base give the Aeaieaeal Rescue Coalition of lEIawaia your support by workieag together to solve our ~robleens.
1Plea~e give us your .support i® passing stronger laws which have soeaae teetlx, :that wall help our ~aety teach
®ui^ children responsable behave®r toward all Life, seas! conuenres of sell®ns, b~a~ h~ ~hal~ren are
taught seed shown Isy exaraaple, aea€l will !cares from w~aat-they observe from the ~dul bh~mma,
about what fifes rules are seas! what is acceptable behavior.
id~=~ ;