HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Neighbor island animal shelters say they’re extremely over capacity — and more animals are arriving daily.
For now, they’re avoiding euthanasia, but that may change due to the lack of space.
The Kauai Humane Society, for example, is 156% over capacity.
”If you walk through our dog adoption floor, you can’t hear what the person next to you is saying because there’s so many barking dogs,” said Caitlin Fowlkes, marketing and communications Coordinator.
“So there are a lot of animals, but we’re doing our best to make sure that they’re all very well taken care of.”
Right now, the shelter has 301 cats and 83 dogs.
The shelter said more animals are being surrendered daily.
The most common concerns: No pet-friendly housing or financial struggles.
”They end up deciding … it’s maybe best for the pet to go to the shelter so that we can find a home for it. But the unfortunate thing is that we have so many animals here, that’s not always the best thing,” said Fowlkes.
It’s the same critical situation for the Maui Humane Society.
Intake is up by 35% compared to 2020.
Capacity was so stressed last month that the shelter made a public plea for help to prevent the organization from being forced to euthanize dogs. “It’s the last thing we ever want to do, but we literally had no other options, we had to be very transparent,” said Jenny Miller, the Maui Humane Society’s interim CEO.
“And we actually saw the public step up and flood into the shelter to help us it was it was really beautiful. And I was really proud of our community,” Miller added.
Kauai said it’s also in the same place.
”Until we start getting better at spaying and neutering, fostering, adopting … it is a scary reality that may soon come to fruition,” Fowlkes told Hawaii News Now.
Adoption is the top priority, but donations are always needed. And the shelters also want foster pet parents.
“Our foster program is really special because we can actually supply everything for the animal,” said Fowlkes. “So all the food, all the medical care, all the supplies … anything like that.”
Contact your closest shelter if you can adopt or foster an animal.
Here’s where to find them:
