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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0022.079 2004-2006 Pagc I of 2 Murashige, Laura From: Thalia (thaliaphoto@hawaii.rr.com] Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 7'.50 PM To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us Subject: RE: Bill No 4, Draft 6-Animal Control Ordinance Importance: High Dear County Council members, As a representative of Advocats Inc, a Kona based non profit agency. By way of introduction, our primary mission is to trap, nueter and release feral and abandoned cats in public areas (we have neutered over 2,500 animals in the past few years) all over West Hawaii, with private donated funds and all volunteer help. We have hosted a spay neuter clinic last year, and are hosting another one In March with the cooperation and donated services of local and visiting veterinarians. (Incidentally the HIHS was invited to participate in the first ever spay/neuter clinic of it's kind that we organized with the volunteer assistance of visiting veterinarians from The University of North Caroline veterinary School, and their presence was notably absent from this very important event) The other purpose of our organization is to educate the public on humane ways to deal with nuisance cats and educate our residents and toursists about the benefits of maintaining a healthy, and nuetered feral cat population for rodent control, and sponsor fee free foster and adoption programs for abandoned cats. Our members are, however, overwhelmed with the enormity of our mission and our critical goal is to acquire and establish a no kill animal shelter and refuge to reduce the shameful, massive euthanization of unwanted animals, which is the primary undertaking of the HIHS through it's animal contol contract. There just aren't enough homes for unwanted animals On behalf of our members I am submitting the following changes be made to impending legislation regarding animal control on the island: -Section 4-22, article 4 mandates a 48 hour holding period for impounded stray dogs, but mentions nothing about cats. Currently the holding period for cats is 24 hours. It usually takes at least 24 hours for an owner/feeder to notice if a cat is missing. I strongly urge you to change this 48 hour holding period be mandated for cats as well -The redemption fee is proposed to be raised from $10. to $25. You may or may not know that when notified by the HIHS of the holding of an ear tipped (i.a.nuetered cat), that this redemption fee that we must pay is hardship enough after the $65./$50. invested in neutering the animal. We are pleading that this fee should be waived for Advocats Inc. because we have volutarily and with private (not county) funds and volunteer labor, undertaken a job which should be under the domain of the HIHS, but they obviously do not have the resources to do this, and these animals are euthanized unnecessarily because it is the "cheapest" option. This is a 150°!° increase in the redemption fee, which either comes out of packet of the volunteer who redeems the cat or comes out the funds designated for neutering additional cats. We feel the HIHS should be more supportive of the work we do by keeping the feral population under control with our TNR program (trap, neuter and release) and this redemption fee is a "slap in the face" by one animal welfare organization to another, we should be more supportive of our mutual goals in reducing the unwanted animal population and this is an adversarial, punitive measure instead. -Penalties for cruelty to animals which mentions dogs and cats have been raised, that is a good thing. HOWEVER, Section 4-29, regarding "Injury or poisoning of dogs" should be reworded to include cats as well. There has been a rash of cat poisonings all over the county, including the gruesome hangings of feral cats which were first poisoned at Honokohau harbor last year. Cats should be included along with dogs in BOTH measures A and B. Though this is NOT addressed in the proposed changes, but animal cruelty is, I think our county council should he made aware of the fact that the HIHS lends traps to the public to trap "nuisance" cats. The problem with this is that they do not include any humane instructions on how to trap cats, we have witness trapped animals left in the hot sun for days at a time, I've seen people bring cats into the shelter in traps without any cover over the trap, traumatizing an already traumatized animal. The end result is that the HIHS, part of whose mission is to address animal cruelty issues, is inadvertantly exacerbating the problem of animal cruelty through lending traps without proper education- Also the result of this practice is that people are unwittingly trapping peoples' pets, and frequently these pets are euthanized before the owner has a chance to realize their pets are missing, another pressing reason to require a 48 hour holding period for all cats brought into the shelter. Corr+m. No. ~i Z. 7 Ps f. To: Rs# . ate 1 /23/2006 Yagc ? of 2 Unfortunately I have recently experienced an incident of a neighbor trapping pet cats. Four were missing by the time we discovered a trap in their yard. Upon confrontation the neiyhbor denied using the trap for cats, then went into a rampage about cats paw prints on their new car. The very next morning at 5:30 AM I discovered my own pet cat in a trap in their car port. They baited it with fresh fish. I released the cat and then discovered he had bleach sprayed in his face. I took the cat for treatment at the vet. I notified the HIHS with a report of the incident, and thought they but was told that since noone actually saw the cat being sprayed with bleach, that there was no legal grounds for animal cruelty. Never once prior to this incident did this neighbor approach me or the neighbor who lost 3 of the 4 pet cats indicating that [he cats were coming in their yard and causing a problem. We have since erected a cat proof fence betweeen our properties and the problem has been solved, but this is too late for our 4 missing cats, one of which was my prized Siamese.we would have done this right away if we knew there was problem. The neighbor never admitted to trapping our beloved pets, , or what he did with them, most likely, since they are fishermen, they drowned them at sea. This kind of thing is a HUGE PROBLEM all over the island. People abandon animals because they fear bringing them to the HIHS, knowing the animal most likely will be euthanized. Pet friendly rentals are scarce, so many people abandon pets at parks and public areas when they are forced to move. Colonies of feral cats can be a nuisance when mismanaged out of cruelty and ignorance and we are working hard to combat these problems. but it is a communtiy problem, created by the community, it is not the aimals fault. The HIHS needs to implement a free spay/neuter program, controlling the population is the most important step we can take to reducing the problem, along with education, strong enforcement and penalties to punish those who are blatantly cruel to animals. Your heartfelt and sensible consideration r•f these pressing issues i~~ greatly appreciated, on behalf of the animals and the humans that love them. Mahalo, Thalia Naidu Thalia Thalia D. Naidu Aloha Picture This Photographics www. picturethisphoto. net PO BOX 1394 Kailua Kona, Hi. 96745 NEW EMAIL thaliaphoto@hawaii.rr.com U23/2006