• Great cost in euthanizing animals • Climate will change, but reasons why uncertain • Cats keep the rats, mice away Great cost in euthanizing animals In response to KHS’s “Kauai Humane Society has many programs to place pets in homes:” What it
• Great cost in euthanizing animals • Climate will change, but reasons why uncertain • Cats keep the rats, mice away
Great cost in euthanizing animals
In response to KHS’s “Kauai Humane Society has many programs to place pets in homes:” What it fails to mention is it seems its biggest and most expensive program is cutting down the animal population by killing. This is accomplished by people delivering animals to KHS and by the old cat/dog catcher method.
KHS is, no doubt, a full-service kill shelter. Sure, there is a very nice website that touts very animal friendly programs, sounds and looks very nice and neat … professional, but even the calmest of waters often times have a very powerful undertow.
What KHS fails to mention is their kill program. This is a program partially, if not wholly, funded by animal lovers’ donations, and is probably KHS’s most costly program. This expense is taking away from the other, genuinely animal-friendly programs.
KHS is a nonprofit which receives many donations in the form of money, labor, food, and is probably subsidized to some degree by the county, and even the water and power entities of our island. It charges licensing fees for both dogs and cats. Its fostering and adoption programs are virtually costless to KHS, as is the spay/neutering service (it is not a “program” in a sense that its primary function is to reduce the pet population) as customers are charged more now than ever for this service.
How many animals are killed as opposed to how many animals are altered?
More important, how much money is spent, from donations for the killing of animals, as opposed to money spent on altering and saving animals?
Killing animals will temporarily, ineffectively, inhumanely, bring down the animal population and has no ending.
Having an extensive, robust, and truly humane spay and neuter program through lower cost if not offering free spay and neutering to all, having an extensive trap-neuter/spay-release program, and on/off island adoptions lowers the animal population humanely and effectively, and future cost savings is a big bonus.
I admit, I personally do not like kill shelters, which is what KHS is. I do admire no-kill shelters and their administration’s efforts to go the extra mile for the animals. There are all kinds of incentives to get people to have their pets spayed and neutered and I believe there is all kinds of donated money to fund that, along with donated money for an extensive spay/neuter and release program and money to add more space for animals at KHS.
In short, we need to follow the money, run an impartial cost analysis, look at the books and see if donations are being utilized wisely and humanely where healthy, loving, homeless animals are concerned. Perhaps here is room for improvement.
Chris Schaefer
Kapaa
Climate will change, but reasons why uncertain
I agree that the climate will change and will continue to do so, as it has since recorded history. But I do not believe that these changes are entirely due to human activity. There have always been extreme weather events happening even before we were generating so much greenhouse gas. And let us not forget that we need CO2 for plant growth. I further believe we are a long way off from correctly forecasting what the climate will do.
Scientists are very safe in proclaiming that the climate will change because we all know that it will, but proving which way it will go is quite another thing. In the meantime, there are a number of people making buckets of money getting governments to spend billions of dollars on very costly, undependable green energy. This will bring unspeakable financial hardships to our citizens and cause even more poverty, hunger, and starvation to folks in Third World countries, and all this to make some select people very wealthy.
Frank Saworski
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada
Cats keep the rats, mice away
Yes, for goodness’ sakes kill that one-eyed monster resting in the shade of a truck! Holy moly, what next? Then kill those barking dogs, crowing roosters, noisy frogs, parakeets, whales, dolphins, coral reefs … and on and on and on and on.
Did it ever occur to anyone — anyone — cats are predatory? If you have a — horrors — one-eyed black feral cat in your neighborhood, you might have a few less mice and baby rats?
We certainly seem to be a death-dealing culture.
Bettejo Dux
Kalaheo
