KAILUA-KONA — Animal advocates are putting major bite to their bark. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA — Animal advocates are putting major bite to their bark. Hawaii Island’s humane societies are pitching a state-of-the-art multi-million animal shelter in the heart of Kona town
KAILUA-KONA — Animal advocates are putting major bite to their bark.
Hawaii Island’s humane societies are pitching a state-of-the-art multi-million animal shelter in the heart of Kona town that they are touting as a worldwide beacon for top-of-the-line animal facilities.
But far more than a no-kill shelter, the eye-popping proposal is more like a pet mecca.
“This is what everyone wants,” said Ruthy Nasia, director of Animals Above All, the society spearheading the effort. “Luxury shouldn’t be a commodity reserved only for retired people.”
Funding on the $305 million pet resort is 90 percent secured thanks to grants and county support, and project leaders are asking other animal advocate groups to pony up and push the plan over the top.
It calls for a 500,000-square-foot, multi-story facility in the heart of Kailua Village. Only moderate portions of St. Michael the Archangel Church would have to be removed to make way for the building and three bars in the area have already agreed to build their lanais higher so patrons can still see the ocean once it’s built.
Nasia said the groups had been kicking the idea around for years, but it wasn’t until she read an online comment telling her to do more that she decided to spring into action.
“It’s amazing what anonymous advice can do,” she said.
The hefty price tag doesn’t come without consequences. The county’s incumbent administration will have to push two major projects to the back burner to pay for the palace: The Superferry, as well as the proposed wall construction between East and West Hawaii.
And the fact that the project will be funded and run by nonprofits did give the administration pause before it signed off. As a nonprofit, it won’t be required to pay much in property taxes, meaning a big chunk of prime, westside real estate will be off the books.
“That’s our payroll,” said Mayor Eastwell Better. “That’s where friends get raises and Hilo gets parks.”
The project’s already tapped worldwide attention.
Psychologist and sociologist Booker Smarts, PhD, said the model the facility will follow to reduce population growth — letting dogs live together, without human masters, like couples in high-end style — is revolutionary. Operating like their two-legged counterparts, they’ll eventually grow so used to one another, reproducing won’t be a natural desire, he explained.
“I think we’ll see by the fourth or fifth day it’ll be gone,” Smarts said, adding he first started researching the topic after observing couples as a grad student while working as waiter in Kailua-Kona one summer. “Maybe by the third.”
Now, the groups are looking to other animal advocacy groups to raise the last $30 million, which is far from a done deal. The pet resort will have plenty of space for feral cats, mongooses and other exotic animals, but creating a feral-less pet population hasn’t proved to be a seamless venture.
Some say the utopia could simply put an end overnight to what some people have been working their whole lives for.
“That’s like asking me to delete my Facebook page,” said Clive Tail, director of Paying for Spaying, who moved to the island last Tuesday but vacationed here in 2009. “It’s important to malama for our island’s ferals, but I have a kuleana to an online presence, too.”
