LIHUE — A bill that would increase license fees for dogs met strong opposition from hunters Wednesday. “I oppose Bill 2490; it is unfair, unjust and it is targeting certain groups of dog owners,” said hunter Robert Cremer Jr., adding
LIHUE — A bill that would increase license fees for dogs met strong opposition from hunters Wednesday.
“I oppose Bill 2490; it is unfair, unjust and it is targeting certain groups of dog owners,” said hunter Robert Cremer Jr., adding that most hunters, under this bill, would be paying $500 a year or more in fees.
The bill was unanimously approved at first reading by the Kauai County Council, and was referred to the council’s Finance Committee.
A two-year license for dogs currently costs $6 if the dog hasn’t been spayed or neutered, and $2 for altered animals. Hunters with a current hunting license pay $6 for the first dog, and $2 for their other dogs, even if they have not been fixed.
The proposal would increase to $50 the fees for unaltered dogs and to $15 for altered dogs. Additionally, hunters would lose the exemption.
Councilman Tim Bynum said earlier this week the bill originated as a suggestion from the Kauai Humane Society, which still needs to close the gap between about $970,000 in services provided to the county and county-funding of $770,000 ($65,000 are for the spay and neuter program).
Earlier this month, KHS announced it will close the shelter on Sundays to reduce operating costs.
Cremer, in passionate testimony, said most hunters don’t spay or neuter their dogs in order to keep a genetic line going.
“A dog is a dog when it comes to license,” he said. “If my dog has six puppies, then that is six more licenses that I will have to pay for.”
By separating fees for hunters and breeders, Cremer said, it shows that the council is targeting them — even though the current law already makes a distinction, only that it is to hunters’ benefit. To Cremer, the law should be fair across the board for everyone.
Michael Ornellas said the proposal really hurts hunters like him. He said he has been breeding hunting dogs since 1980. He has 12 dogs, three for breeding and the rest are “field dogs.”
Ornellas said his dogs put meat on his table and also on occasions for others when he donates meat — but the food for his dogs costs $22 a week, he said.
“Like anybody else in this room, we live paycheck by paycheck,” said Ornellas, adding that he was OK with the current fees.
His family has been hunting for generations. Hunting, he said, is a way of food sustainability, especially for an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
“It’s not going to be easy to be sustainable, because of all the laws they’re trying to impose on the local people,” Ornellas said. “I can’t afford to be paying that amount of money.”
Self-taught wood turner Robert Hamada, designated as a “living treasure” by the Kauai Museum in 1997, also testified in support of the hunters.
“These people are in top condition, they’re in good shape; they know this island like the back of their hand,” said Hamada, crediting the hunters’ fitness to the quality of their hunting dogs.
“You’ll never see a big, fat hunter, you’ll always see them lean,” he said.
Hamada’s point was that in the event of an invasion of Kauai by an Asian country, hunters would be a line of defense, besides the police and the military.
Then he displayed a magazine article that said about 5,000,000 rifles have been sold in the United States, and “some of these on Kauai.”
You put one of those rifles on the hands of a hunter who is in top shape and knows the island so well, and you have a marksman, he said.
“You take away the dogs from these hunters, in time you’ll have no hunters on this island, you’ll have big, fat sunbathing people on Kauai,” Hamada said.
Unmoved by the laughter he drew from the audience after his remarks, Hamada said, “You may think it’s impossible, but everything is possible.”
Later in the day, Lihue resident Alice Parker testified in support of the bill. She said the current $2 fee is “really a bare minimum,” and the proposed increases are reasonable.
Parker suggested that Humane Society officers should knock on doors looking for unlicensed dogs, because there are many unresponsible dog owners not paying fees.
“They did that in Los Angeles County,” she said.
As far as hunting dogs, Parker said the increase in fees are fine. If the hunting dogs are unaltered, the owners should pay $50, she said.
“We don’t need puppy mills and puppies all over; we need dogs who are taken care of,” she said. “You are going to have a lot of objection but I don’t object.”
Parker missed the hunters’ testimony earlier in the day. Councilman Ross Kagawa told her that some of them have up to 20 dogs and are not happy with the proposal.
Council Vice Chair Nadine Nakamura said hunters raised concerns about their dogs, and some of those animals are unaltered by choice. She asked Parker if the council should look at a universal fee or pursue the two-tier approach.
“I would like to hear an explanation of why they need a huge pack of dogs for one hunter, one person,” Parker said.
That explanation, Nakamura said, may come when the bill reaches committee level.
The bill now heads to the finance committee and a public hearing Aug. 9.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or lazambuja@thegardenisland.com
