Kokua Line: How do I keep feral cats from ruining my business?

Question: There are so many cats outside the entrance to my business, especially at night. Someone must be feeding them after we close because there are more and more coming around. Every morning we arrive to a smelly mess (urine and feces). Myself and an employee are spending our valuable time cleaning up and they’re not our cats! I called the Humane Society, but they don’t take stray cats anymore since the pandemic. What can I do?

Answer: Yours is one of several similar questions Kokua Line has received over the past few months from readers surprised to learn that the Hawaiian Humane Society no longer routinely accepts healthy, adult feral cats, unless they’re being brought in for pre-scheduled spaying or neutering and will be returned to the property where they were found. Previously, the Humane Society had allowed people to surrender feral cats they had trapped. The change initially occurred because of COVID-19 restrictions, but soon evolved into permanent policy aligned with the nonprofit’s mission, said Steph Kendrick, director of community engagement.

Adult feral cats dropped off under the old rules tended to be euthanized, because they were not socialized and therefore were unsuitable for adoption. “It’s not our goal to be euthanizing healthy animals,” Kendrick said, emphasizing that the Humane Society supports TNRM (Trap, Neuter, Return, Manage) as a long-term approach to reducing the free-roaming cat population by curtailing reproduction.

Feeding cats without getting them fixed does not further this goal.

As for what you and other readers can do: One option is to register with the Humane Society or another nonprofit group on Oahu that provides free or low-cost spay/neuter for feral cats as part of a TNRM program, which also requires each cat to be microchipped for identification. There’s a mass sterilization event (Good Fix Oahu) scheduled for April 5 to 10 that requires pre-registration and advance planning to trap the feral cats. Here are some ways to make appointments for that event, which plans to sterilize up to 1,800 free-roaming cats, or at other clinics:

>> CatFriends: Register for the Good Fix Oahu event or a regular CatFriends clinic at hicat friends.org (click on Spay/Neuter Clinics) or via the CatFriends Facebook page. Call 808-226-4561 or email info@hicatfriends.org if you need help trapping or transporting cats or have questions not answered on the registration form, website or Facebook page.

>> Hawaiian Humane Society: HHS offers free spay/neuter for free- roaming cats by online appointment. Follow the links at hawaiianhumane.org/spay-neuter-frc/.

>> KAT Charities: This nonprofit group has organized teams of volunteers to help trap free-roaming cats for the upcoming Good Fix Oahu event. If your property has 10 or more unsterilized feral cats, it might be able to help you, if you get in touch right away, according to a public Facebook Live event Friday. As with other TNRM groups, the cats would return to your property. Contact information is on the group’s Facebook page, KAT Charities. If the cats on your property have notched ears, they’re already sterilized.

>> Catopia Hawaii: Animal welfare advocates recommend this private Facebook group for advice about caring for free- roaming cats on private property, or humanely deterring them from taking up residence there. You’ll have to be accepted into the 5,200-member group to be able to ask questions; see Catopia Hawaii on Facebook.

Under state law, relocating free-roaming cats would be allowed only if the cats are cared for at the new location, such as a sanctuary, Kendrick said. None of the Oahu organizations we’ve checked over the past few weeks have space available for adult feral cats.

The Hawaii Invasive Species Council lists feral cats as an invasive species, describing them as “one of the most devastating predators of Hawaii’s unique wildlife,” including native birds, as well as the source of a “potentially lethal parasite (Toxoplasma gondii) that contaminates terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments.” We called state and county agencies looking for any program that would control the species on private property, but found none.

Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.