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In a few weeks the largest pet rescue in American history will depart from Hawaii, including dogs and cats from Big Island. It's a good cause, but I admit I'm curious what what the cost is per critter in dollars:
This looming crisis has led Hawaii’s emergency management agencies to call for an emergency airlift of high-risk animals on a chartered Hercules C-130, a turbo-prop aircraft with a military and civilian history of airlifts and rescue missions. On October 29, 2020, the plane will cross the Pacific carrying 157 dogs and 525 cats saved from overcrowded shelters on Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Lanai, and the Big Island, before touching down in Seattle, where all 642 animals will be distributed to shelters across the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. Not only will these at-risk pets be flying to a region where demand for adoption is high, they’ll be participating in the largest pet rescue in American history!
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Just another result of the abysmal way people in these islands deal with pet population control. It's not like it can't be done because there are shortages of adoptable pets in the Pacific Northwest, parts of Virginia, and other places. And don't start me on the way people around here treat the animals they choose to hold on to. I get so angry when I see a dog spend its entire life on a six foot tether. I offered to take a neighbor's tethered dog which never got any attention and cried all the time. Their answer? "But the kids love her." When I asked why the loving kids never spent any time with her, I first got a blank look, then an angry stare. I was so glad when they moved.
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(10-11-2020, 08:27 PM)HereOnThePrimalEdge Wrote: It's a good cause, but I admit I'm curious what what the cost is per critter in dollars..
I think it's a great program. Is there a price you think would be too high?
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I think this is a result of COVID shutting down so many passenger flights. A lot of shelter animals fly to the mainland on airlines that are temporarily not flying out. The Oregon Humane society in particular is a big "consumer" of big island shelter animals. Their decades of spay/neuter programs and demonizing private breeders created a situation where there aren't enough shelter animals to keep their shelters in "business". I've been to the Portland shelter (I don't remember how much it cost to build but it was over 10 million dollars) and it is beautiful, but there weren't many dogs there.
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Is there a price you think would be too high?
Since I don’t manage the program, or make a donation with an eye toward their financial efficiency, the cost wasn’t my concern. It was more a matter of my curiosity.
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I've heard from multiple locals that they have to jerk off their dogs so they'll focus on hunting instead of other dogs in heat. Because, you know, that's normal, instead of just getting their dogs fixed!
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Thanks DoryGray, from your link:
Just $25 helps cover the fuel costs of flying a pet 625 miles towards safety.
From Maui to Seattle is 2645 miles / 625 miles = 4.232 x $25 = $105.80. Not sure what other costs are involved such as chartering a C-130, etc, or if Milkbone and beverage service are extra, but that’s a ballpark figure anyway. Thanks.
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I am intensely skeptical that flying animals from Hawaii is competitive with driving them from anywhere else on the mainland, where most states still have a surplus. I am also skeptical that even Oregon has suppressed pet overpopulation to the point where they couldn't find cats locally. There is a huge history of rescue groups trucking animals back and forth in a kind of hide the animals game. I suspect that having embraced a no-kill philosophy local animal rescue groups are now feeling the inevitable pressure of what to do with them. I knew THAT was going to happen.
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10-12-2020, 01:26 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-12-2020, 01:29 AM by terracore.)
I know a gal that works for one of the mainland airlines in Kona, and they give the rescues special pricing on flying the animals to the mainland, in addition to returning the kennels for free. I'm sure the rescues are on the list of charities the airline "supports". As far as I know they only ship small and medium sized dogs over. There are probably plenty of cats and large dogs already on the receiving end.
A no-kill shelter may still need to import adoptable animals, presumably all the animals being warehoused are unadoptable for some reason.
