Hawaii County officials last week lamented a lack of resources for dealing with the island’s dangerous dogs, even as residents urged them to take action.
Matthew Runnels, administrator of the recently created Animal Control and Protection Agency, made a presentation Tuesday to the County Council’s Communications, Reports and Council Oversight Committee about finding his agency’s footing since it took over the county’s animal control duties in July.
“A lot of the things that we’ve been focused on has been recruitment and staffing, because that is probably our biggest issue,” Runnels said, explaining that the agency has hired 28 employees, including 12 animal control officers, over the last six months. “The process of creating jobs and having those jobs written … takes quite a long time.”
Runnels said onboarding the agency’s animal control officers is his current priority before hiring the rest of the agency’s staff. However, he added the agency does not currently have a veterinarian on staff, which he hopes to rectify.
“Right now, currently we’re using outside vendors, which is quite costly for us,” Runnels said, estimating that a staff veterinarian would decrease yearly veterinary costs to about $75,000 from the current $300,000.
Runnels also said he eventually hopes to secure additional kennel facilities on the north and south sides of the islands — adding the agency is eyeing a specific site on Parker Ranch land in Waimea for the former — but the existing two facilities in Keaau and Kailua-Kona also are in dire need of renovations.
While some repairs are scheduled for the East Hawaii facility later this year, none are currently planned for West Hawaii, Runnels said.
The agency’s vehicle fleet is similarly threadbare, with the West Hawaii facility relying entirely on two trucks, and the East Hawaii facility using four trucks and three vans, all “hand-me-downs” with various maintenance problems. Runnels said he intends to secure more than a dozen vehicles in the future.
Runnels said the agency has just hired a second dispatcher, allowing officers to respond to calls seven days a week. Currently, the agency’s only dispatcher has been working only from Mondays to Fridays, which has been a point of concern from residents unable to reach animal control on weekends.
The agency takes in more than 250 animals a month on average, Runnels said, and the two facilities combined have 137 spaces for dogs and 42 for cats. The average length of stay for an animal is roughly 45 days, and for 40% of those animals, that stay ends with euthanization.
Runnels said the agency is building up its social media operations to better connect shelter animals with owners or adopters.
“One of the key components to getting faster returns to those owners is education about registration, with microchipping, and with registering those microchips,” Runnels said, explaining that many of the microchipped animals which enter the agency’s facilities don’t actually have those chips registered, rendering them useless.
Committee members were sympathetic about the struggles of the agency and complimented Runnels on his strides toward improving animal control functions since taking over.
However, residents urged Animal Control to take action to address an ever-worsening feral animal situation throughout the rural parts of the island.
“Please enforce the laws and fines that we can,” said Shannon Matson, whose 72-year-old father, Bob Northrop, was killed by a pack of four dogs in Ocean View last August. “Even if it seems silly to give a $25 fine, give them the fine every single time as allowed for (by law). … We’re begging you … to make an effort to enforce every single instance of irresponsible dog ownership on our island to help make a noticeable change in pet owner behavior.”
Matson and her sister Anna Schamber added that the agency has been unresponsive to calls about dangerous or dead animals on public roads.
“When people leave their name and their number, we need them to call us back,” Schamber said.
Schamber and her husband, Dean Schamber, had already discussed the urgency of the situation earlier on Tuesday in response to a County Council resolution urging the state Legislature to pass House Bill 2058, which would make owners of a dangerous dog subject to felony charges.
“There’s nothing stopping (the owners of the dogs that killed my father) from owning more dogs or letting their dogs out to kill more people,” Anna Schamber said. “They have zero consequences right now, and I think that’s unacceptable. They need to be held accountable.
“Our kupuna and our children are not safe,” she went on. “My dad was just walking to his friend’s house. It’s horrible to know that you can’t let your kids play in your yard because dogs could come into your yard and attack your kids.”
The council’s Committee on Government Operations and External Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend passage of the resolution.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.