Pam Burns, CEO of the Hawaiian Humane Society, responded to an entry here two weeks ago questioning certain policies.

Burns writes:

You are absolutely right that these are complex issues tied up in this case which require balancing of individual rights and current laws related to animal cruelty. This has been a very difficult case for many reasons and one that I have followed very closely as our Humane Investigators have been actively monitoring, making more than 100 unannounced visits to her, responding to more than 78 complaints from the public, and convincing her to surrender 47 cats over to us.

We have been corresponding with Pamela Davis (of Animal Advocates, Inc.) about this case for several months. She initially wrote me on May 8, 2008 “informing us” of Cathleen’s situation that we were already well aware of. Our director of operations, Rigo Neira had attempted to contact her via phone and was not successful and subsequently emailed her on June 13th informing Ms. Davis of our ongoing investigation of this case. On June 14th, she responded via email to me stating that she had not written to Rigo and was disappointed that I had not personally responded to her.

Since this was a cruelty investigation, I had felt it best to ask our staff who are directly involved and most knowledgeable about the case to respond to her concerns.

On June 27th she sent a letter to me asking for copies of records under UIPA and I responded on July 10, 2008 that since this was an open investigation that could lead to criminal charges this information is protected and the request was declined.

The video is very disturbing, however, when our investigators have made numerous unannounced visits they did not see what is portrayed in the video.

In addition, one commenter referenced our role in dangerous dog calls… HPD is the first responder to situations where people are in danger as they have officers positioned island wide. At any one time, the Humane Society has 3 to 4 officers on duty so we serve as HPD’s support team if requested. If HPD requests follow up, we respond within 24 hours of receiving an HPD report, which may take time to get to us.

Additional issues have subsequently been raised by Animal Advocates, but I’ll hold off on those until I’m able to discuss them with the Humane Society.

Meanwhile, June Watanabe’s Kokua Line column in the Star-Bulletin looked at problems with the new provider of spay and neuter services for the City and County of Honolulu. Animal Care Foundation was awarded the contract beginning last month over the longtime provider, Hawaiian Humane Society, in part because of promises to provide service via a mobile spay/neuter van. But the van service has not yet materialized and the foundation has as yet been unable to provide details of when the service will begin, according to Watanabe.

The director of the city’s Department of Customer Services responded to Watanabe’s inquiry:

“We’ve had our share of inquiries” about the current lack of islandwide service, she acknowledged.

But because Animal Care Foundation is a “first-time vendor,” the city is “trying to work with them” to get going, including helping with certificates and brochures.

“However, they need to come up with a management plan,” laying out the locations and times the mobile unit will be in various communities, Takahara-Dias said.

At least one concerned reader feels the new contractor is in default of contract terms.

In my opinion, the Neuter Now contract is in default. The contractor is not performing as it promised that it would. When will the city step in and reinstate the old program using certificates and the pet owner’s own vet ? We don’t want a lot of unwanted kittens and puppies this summer but that sure seems to be the direction that we are headed.

For many pet owners making 2 trips to the Hawaii Kai Clinic of AFC ( drop off & pick up ) is very inconvenient. I am sure that ACF would NOT have been awarded the Neuter Now contract if the City knew they would only be providing surgeries out of their Hawaii Kai clinic.

She added:

The organization “Catfriends” held a spay/neuter clinic in Ewa Beach last weekend and did 300 cats. Makaha was a few weeks before that with 200+ cats. The city doesn’t give Catfriends a single penny although they certainly should !

Very interesting.

It’s been a week since we said goodbye to Mr. Leo. Thanks to everyone who conveyed their condolences. All your thoughts were much appreciated.

But there are another eight cats still at home to help us get through this transition. I managed to get at least one photo of each of them for today’s gallery of Friday Felines. This is Ms. Wally on the front deck. Just click on her picture for today’s photos.