Trends in sheltering and welfare at the Hawaiian Humane Society, Oahu, Hawaii

One of the major goals of an animal welfare organization is to reduce the number of homeless, nonhuman animals in a community. In Hawaii, the Hawaiian Humane Society has provided numerous animal welfare services to work toward this goal, such as offering sterilizations and microchipping at reduced rates and facilitating animal adoptions and education. In addition, the Leash Law and the Cat Identification Program have increased animal welfare through increasing the responsibilities of companion animal caregivers (owners). The goal of this research was to assess if temporal changes in animal sheltering have occurred in Hawaii. The study assessed this by analyzing historical data on dogs (Canis familiaris) and cats (Felis catus) admitted, returned to owner, sterilized, euthanized, and adopted from the Humane Societies of Oahu, Hawaii, from 1993 to 2008. The study also analyzed dog and cat admittance and Honolulu population growth from 1975 to 2008. Sterilizations and pets returned to owners have increased significantly, whereas admittance and euthanasia rates have decreased significantly. Thus, although these data cannot conclusively state that there are fewer homeless animals in Hawaii, the results provide positive indicators of reducing homeless pets, especially when coupled with an increase in both the human population of Honolulu County and dog ownership.