KIPU — Wednesday was a special day at the Kaua‘i Humane Society.
Amid the traffic of couples picking up animals for a field day, the family of Jian Mehta and the Kaua‘i Humane Society produced new signage for the KHS Field Trips for Shelter Dogs program that is being dedicated to the memory of Jian Mehta.
“This is the fourth anniversary of Jian’s death following his battle with cancer,” said Jimit Mehta, Jian’s father and owner of the Kaua‘i Visitors Channel.
“We’ve been doing free airings of commercials, including the Field Day for Shelter Dogs, from before I acquired the visitors channel, and even after acquiring the local company, continued to air the commercials until today. To have the program dedicated to Jian’s memory is an honor because Jian was an animal lover from his childhood.”
According to signage dedicating the Field Day for Shelter Dogs program to Jian’s memory, the young Jian was an “avid animal lover from early childhood. His 23-year sojourn on Earth was far too brief, yet impacted many.”
In 2016, Jian became ill with acute myeloid leukemia, and shared his religious beliefs that made him a life-long animal advocate.
The move to dedicate the program to Jian’s memory sprang up with the need to create an updated video of the animal field trip program.
“We are beyond full capacity at KHS,” said Caitlin Fowlkes, KHS director of marketing and communications. “The sign at the entrance says we are 249 percent over capacity with 172 cats, and 142 percent over capacity with 70 dogs in the shelter. We definitely need people to adopt animals.”
The Field Trip for Shelter Dogs has been a great help in getting animals adopted, as a lot of the field trip hosts become attached to the animals and end up adopting them.
Fowlkes said there are benefits beyond that aspect when people see the animal in public and become attached to it.
“They also see the animal on social media after the animal’s day host post pictures,” Fowlkes said. “They end up calling the shelter and, in many instances, end up adopting”
Through Fowlkes’ efforts at trying to gain some recognition and acknowledgement for the work being done by the Kaua‘i Visitors Channel, both the Kaua‘i Humane Society and the Mehta family agreed the new dedication to Jian was most fitting.
“Needless to say, we are thrilled, touched deeply, and inspired again to do more for the Kaua‘i Humane Society and all that it does for the animals, including its no-kill policy,” Jimit said. “Besides the airtime, we are continuing to donate, we have also made certain financial pledges to KHS, which we hope helps their never-ending efforts to help all creatures that they rescue on a daily basis.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
