One of the main ‘themes’ during the PRPSC Meeting with Hawai’i County Animal Control (HPD AC) on October 18 was Animal’s Control “Mandate” – what services they are mandated to provide - or what was referred to as their “Purview” during the meeting. HPD AC is currently NOT in compliance with neither State Statute 143 nor Hawai’i County Code Chapter 4 . . .
HPD AC operates under both State Statute 143 and Hawaii County Code Chapter 4. Although both were deemed to be obsolete over 20 years ago, and Council agreed that Chapter 4 needs updating badly, these are HPD AC’s current Mandates. During the meeting, however, a few Council members and HPD AC representatives both incorrectly stated that their mandate is specific to ONLY the following two (2) areas:
1) Dangerous dogs, and
2) Confiscation of animals in situations of cruelty
With this understanding, they are failing to acknowledge a CRITICAL area HPD AC is NOT covering and which is clearly stated in Section 4-4-21 of Chapter 4 – regarding STRAYS (putting aside HRS §143-8, for now):
Section 4-4-21. Seizure of dogs by officers.
(a) Seizure of unlicensed dogs.
(1) Every officer shall seize any unlicensed dog found running at large or found upon any public highway, street, alley, court, place, square, or grounds, or upon any unfenced lot, or not within a sufficient enclosure, and confine it in a pound or any suitable enclosure for a minimum period of forty-eight hours, during which time it shall be subject to redemption by its owner by payment of the license due, if any, and an impoundment fee of $10. Every dog found without a registration tag affixed to the dog’s collar will be deemed to be unlicensed.
[SIDE NOTE: Minimum hold time for unlicensed dogs is forty-eight (48) hours.]
(b) Seizure of licensed stray dogs.
(1) Every officer shall seize and impound any licensed stray dog.
[SIDE NOTE: Minimum hold time for licensed dogs is seven (7) days.]
How do we know they are not in compliance? Well, putting aside the 1,000’s of Facebook posts by the community regarding strays they have had to handle personally without assistance from HPD AC (regardless of a service call to HPD AC), we only need to look at their Shelter Activity Reports (SARS). We reported previously that their SARS for FY ending June 30, 2022, shows approximately 2,000 Intakes for the year. Compare that to HIHS’ reports, averaging about 10,000/year . . . that’s about 8,000 less animals taken into the shelter, per year, since HPD AC took over. So, they are obviously not complying with their Mandate regarding seizure of both unlicensed and licensed dogs.
Having said this, do we want ALL strays to be seized? Well, no . . . because with HPD AC’s current status, it would mean that most would be killed due to lack of space. Nobody wants that. This is not an 'easy' scenario for any Open Admission shelter (which HPD AC shelters are considered, although not operating, as such). But, randomly carrying out this Mandate, while expecting the community to handle the rest, is not a solution – and, it’s actually making the public safety situation worse.
What they can do, however, with effective leadership, program implementation and communication with the public, is develop a system that works! Implementing intake-to-placement and foster-centric sheltering models, along with comprehensive spay/neuter and lost/found programs, will engage and earn the trust of the community; and simultaneously save costs, kennel space AND lives. There are solutions . . . and choices.