The Hawaiian Humane Society is opening its second facility — the Kosasa Family Campus at Ho‘opili — on Saturday in Ewa Beach with a grand opening celebration.
After the celebration, families and visitors are welcome to stay and visit with adoptable pets.
The new campus, built at a cost of $30 million on 5 acres donated by D.R. Horton Hawaii, offers a new admissions center, spay and neuter clinic, three dog pavilions, two cat pavilions, a small- animal pavilion, meet-and-greet areas, walkways, and plenty of grassy, open space.
“The Hawaiian Humane Society has always provided services islandwide,” said HHS President and CEO Anna Neubauer in a news release, “but this expansion — the single largest in Hawaiian Humane history — will drastically increase resource accessibility for central and west Oahu residents, support collaboration with new stakeholders and create better outcomes for animals in need.”
She noted that 2 of every 3 West Oahu households report owning a pet, which is the highest percentage on the island.
The new campus — which sits on double the space of the 2.5-acre Moiliili campus — was designed by the Pacific Asia Design Group in consultation with Animal Arts, animal care architecture experts, and constructed by Allied Builders.
It opens about two years after a groundbreaking and blessing ceremony held in May 2021, and after more than a decade of research, planning and a capital campaign to raise $30 million.
Since it was built from the ground up, the Humane Society was able to incorporate design features in accordance with shelter best practices, spokesperson Brandy Shimabukuro said.
That includes open-air circulation, quieter, soft-close kennels, dog kennels with individual drainage, along with play yards and spaces for animal enrichment and exercise — all of which are designed to minimize stress and risk of disease transmission.
The Ginny Tiu Pet Kokua Center will offer resources, including a pet food bank, to help keep pets with their families.
The facility is also outfitted with solar panels, solar tubes, which are ideal for cats who prefer sunshine while in recovery, and a parking lot with several electric vehicle chargers.
There is also a public dog park, which is expected to open sometime in the fall.
“This space is intended to be really inviting,” Shimabukuro said. “We want people to come by, and it’s not a transactional experience where you’re just coming to adopt and then you leave. We want this to be a space that people come to with their families and they want to spend the day here.”
The new campus opens at a time when shelters statewide — and nationwide — are at overcapacity as the number of animal adoptions slow and surrenders grow due to economic struggles.
Shimabukuro said many of the society’s rescue partners such as Paws of Hawaii, the Fur Angel Foundation and Hawaii Dog Foundation have found adoptions slowing down.
Even with a recent “Empty the Shelters” event in May featuring waived and reduced adoption fees, the Humane Society continues to be at overcapacity as more people surrender their animals.
There are still more than 100 dogs and dozens of cats available for adoption — and it’s kitten season.
“We’ve been overcapacity almost consistently since October,” Shimabukuro said. “In the history of Hawaiian Humane, we’ve never seen it consistently this bad. Maui is experiencing the same, Kauai is experiencing the same, Hawaii island is experiencing the same. It is nationwide, but especially here in Hawaii, because our cost of living is so high, coupled with inflation.”
Having the Ewa Beach campus will help alleviate the overcapacity at the Moiliili campus, and is ideal to serve the West Oahu community, she said, because residents have often mentioned how difficult it is to drive to town when they have found a lost pet or stray cat.
Both campuses have the capacity to hold about 350 to 400 animals each.
As of Wednesday, about 30 dogs had been transferred to Ho‘opili from the Moiliili campus, according to Shimabukuro, and cats were on the way.
Dogs, cats and other animals will be brought over in phases, but adoptions will be available at the new campus starting Saturday.
Also, the campus will open up in phases as it continues to hire, so not all services will be available right away. The spay-neuter center is expected to open in the next few weeks. Admissions services, including lost and found, will be offered to the public later this summer.
HAWAIIAN HUMANE SOCIETY KOSASA FAMILY CAMPUS AT HO‘OPILI
>> What: Grand opening celebration, with a blessing, keiki interactive area, food trucks, music and more.
>> When: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday
>> Where: 91-1945 Fort Weaver Road (corner of Fort Weaver/Old Fort Weaver roads)
The campus will be open 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday. Visit hawaiianhumane.org for information.
