The Oahu Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is completing a roundup of a large family of feral dogs in Haleiwa, an ongoing effort for four years, the organization said.

“This is an example of animals being abandoned and wreaking havoc on the freeway and endangering themselves,” said Stephanie Ryan, co-founder and president of the Oahu SPCA. “We’re having to trap their offspring because they become completely feral when abandoned at a young age.”

In this case, the Oahu SPCA captured 38 dogs related to Goldie, a 4-year-old female terrier/lab mix that is believed to have been abandoned by its owners when it was a puppy. Goldie was captured in September 2011.

“She was probably the product of an unwanted litter, likely dumped by the (Haleiwa) post office where there was a lot of traffic in hopes that someone would snap her up,” Ryan said. “Actually, she was so unsocialized to begin with that nobody could go near her.

“That also happens when people leave their animals in the backyard unattended. They become feral.”

Ryan said Goldie had at least four litters of a total of 27 puppies during the three years she was on the run. The SPCA has captured all but one puppy, which has had a litter of eight that Ryan caught on Sunday. Three feral male dogs that Goldie is believed to have had her litters with were also captured.

Efforts to capture Goldie and her puppies have lasted this long because Goldie “was smart enough to grab the food and run” without being caught in the trap set for her, enabling her to continue reproducing on the streets.

All captured dogs, ranging in age from 6 weeks to 4 years old, have been adopted, except for the latest eight puppies, which have designated foster families.

Like many animals on the streets, feral dogs all over the island walk on roads and cross streets, posing a threat to motorists. Ryan said Goldie and her puppies lived around Haleiwa town behind the post office, and would often cross Kamehameha Highway.

“We were getting complaints,” she said. “People get frustrated and think we’re not doing anything, but almost every day, we were trying to trap them all.”

If unhealthy, dogs can spread disease to humans, though it is uncommon. Ryan said this family of dogs was healthy.

After capture, medical and behavioral rehabilitation of feral dogs is an essential part of the process toward adoption, Ryan said. The older a dog is and the longer it has been feral, the longer the process can take.

“If they’re young, under 8 weeks, it may only take a few days,” she said. “But above 3 months, it can take much longer.”

Because many of the puppies were caught early enough, only one exhibited feral behavior after capture and required extended periods of rehabilitation.

The Oahu SPCA continues to track the last puppy, and Ryan said it’s always an ongoing effort to keep dogs and other pets off the streets.

“We try to educate the public on how to be responsible pet owners and if necessary, how to re-home their own animals,” she said.

The Oahu SPCA, founded in July 2009, has the largest animal shelter in the state with a no-kill philosophy. The shelter has a capacity of 400 to 450 animals and now rescues about 2,000 animals a year.

“We started out rescuing about 1,200 a year, but by our third year now, this past year, we were up to approximately 2,000,” she said. “Indicative of the growing population of unwanted animals on Oahu, in the past couple months, there were times when we had taken in about 45 puppies per week.”

The organization also provides low- or no-cost animal sterilization services to the public.

“Typically, people don’t want to spend money on sterilization, which is the most important thing that you can do as a responsible pet owner to stop euthanasia and eliminate animal homelessness on Oahu,” Ryan said. “As long as people don’t spend the time or make the effort to sterilize their animals, we will have unwanted animals that end up in shelters or on the streets.”