Two months after the Hawaiian Humane Society stopped picking up stray pets in a dispute with the city over funding, Oahu’s remaining animal shelters are feeling the impact.
"Every inch of the shelter is occupied," said Stephanie Ryan, president of the Oahu Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Ryan, founder of the Kapolei shelter underwritten primarily by private donations, said the nonprofit has endured a barrage of calls from people reporting strays as well as a sizable boost in animal drop-offs.
"We’ve even had animals tied to the fence — or just dumped here," she said. "We’ve had to make space for makeshift shelters and cages. They’re everywhere."
The Humane Society captured 3,300 stray cats and dogs last fiscal year but discontinued the service in August after the city failed to meet its demand for an additional $800,000 to cover a variety of rising costs.
On the surface, the move left most of the island’s stray dogs and cats to fend for themselves, while the Honolulu Police Department stepped in to handle calls for dangerous strays.
Inga Gibson, Hawaii director of the United States Humane Society, said it’s disappointing it had to come to this. She said the Humane Society would have remained underfunded even if it had received the extra cash.
In fact, the Moiliili nonprofit has not received a budget increase since 2008, Gibson said, and when compared with similar agencies operating across the country, its level of per capita funding is among the lowest.
The cutback has left the island’s privately funded shelters — including the Oahu SPCA and K9 Kokua, a Waianae shelter that focuses on the dogs of the homeless — scrambling to step into the void, she said.
Gibson, a former Hawaiian Humane Society investigator, said she was also disappointed by the way the cutback occurred with little warning, offering no transition time for training of police officers. She said that while officers already do dangerous stray pickup every once in a while, they certainly will be called on with more regularity.
What’s more, she said, the Police Department wasn’t given any additional resources to handle the tricky work of corralling and transporting a dangerous dog, including the special vehicles designed for that kind of work.
Gibson noted that she was telephoned by a Honolulu Police Department captain last week for advice.
HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu said so far there has been no significant increase in the number of animal response calls since the cutbacks.
Yu said the department wants to emphasize that if a dog is a stray, it should be taken to the Humane Society shelter. But if the dog poses a threat, call 911 so an officer can respond, she said.
The Hawaiian Humane Society, with an annual budget of about $6.1 million, will continue its around-the-clock sheltering of pets — its core mission outside of the $2.3 million city contract — and its work responding to animal emergencies.
Following the budget process two months ago, the agency not only cut stray animal pickup, but discontinued responding to barking dogs, a service that it addressed 1,700 times last year. It also laid off three field investigators.
Celebrating its 130th year, the Humane Society has had some kind of contract with the city since 1915.
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CORRECTION: The Hawaiian Humane Society accepts stray dogs taken to its shelter. It does not confirm that dogs are stray before accepting them. An earlier version of this article said the policy involving stray dogs requires confirmation from the Humane Society.