It all started with two dogs: Alii and Pua.
That was around 1993.
Pua had puppies, said Alfred Cababag, a local artist and Ocean View resident, and soon enough the number of dogs had grown to three.
At that time, Cababag said, he was living and working in Haleiwa, Oahu, but flying back and forth between that island and Waipio Valley, where he has family.
Even with just a few puppies, he said, he knew he couldn’t let it get out of control.
“I’ve been through it before,” he said. “Too many dogs and you can’t fly back and forth to conduct business.”
But over time, the dog population grew and grew, culminating in ongoing efforts by the Hawaii Island Humane Society.
The Hawaii Island Humane Society is currently undertaking efforts to rescue around 90 dogs from Cababag’s property in Ocean View. The organization announced earlier this month that they were looking for foster volunteers to take the dogs in temporarily until a more permanent home is found.
“It’s beautiful,” Cababag said of the Humane Society’s response. “They’re on it. … They’re the heroes.”
During an interview in Kealakekua on Tuesday, Cababag explained how his situation unfolded before the Humane Society helped out and how those first puppies from Alii and Pua were very special to him.
His sister, he said, had recently died and the puppies were his emotional pillars.
“The dogs became a buffer, a comfort for me,” he said. “When she died, I was doing artwork for everyone and all I had was Pua and Alii’s puppies.”
Cababag’s dogs continued to have pups and over time, the man continued to take in others that had been abandoned.
Those dogs included Uala, a dachshund Cababag found abandoned in a streambed, and Awa, a whippet his neighbors found while he was looking for a different dog.
By 2009, Cababag had 18 dogs. At that point, he tried splitting them up between him and an ex-girlfriend, but that was unsuccessful.
He said he’d also tried to give the dogs to the Humane Society, but said that at the time it would have cost him $25 a dog and he refused to let the dogs be euthanized if they weren’t adopted.
“That was senseless to me,” he said.
He also tried simply giving them away, but his ads kept getting flagged and removed.
“So they kept flagging the ads and we kept getting stuck with these litters of pups,” he said.
And his dog population continued to grow.
Getting them spayed and neutered right off the bat was not financially viable. He said when he reached out to a veterinarian, he was quoted $500 for the service.
As the animals’ numbers climbed, Cababag said he took good care of the dogs. Using skills he had picked up working at the Wahiawa Animal Hospital on Oahu, Cababag said he was able to give the dogs medical attention, such as de-worming them when necessary, giving shots and even trading art for IVs at one point.
It was only in the last few months that he said things got way beyond his control.
“When I thought it couldn’t get any worse, oh boy,” he said. “It got really bad.”
As the dogs were reproducing at an unimaginable rate, Cababag’s support structure began to fall away.
“No money … nobody dropping off the dog food,” he said, adding that a neighbor’s truck that was used to carry water also broke down.
“And we’re still in this dire situation with water,” he said.
It was around that time, he said, that he finally got a precise count for the dogs.
“I sat down and I started counting on a piece of paper, making dots of all the dogs,” he said. “And I said ‘Holy moley, 91 dogs!’”
On May 8, he said, he called the Humane Society and spoke to the shelter manager.
“I called (the manager), I said ‘We need help,’” he said.
He said he explained the situation and the shelter agreed to send some water.
“They came and brought me food and water, not just the dogs,” he said. “They showed more compassion than anyone at any time during this whole ordeal.”
Days later, he said, he called the shelter again, this time telling them to “get up here.”
“Then like the U.S. Special Forces, they came,” he said.
From 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., he said, workers from the Humane Society worked to make a record of every dog on the property and distribute heartworm medication. Cababag said only a single dog was found to have heartworms.
Cababag said he worked with the Humane Society to ensure the dogs with the best chance of getting adopted left first, starting with the puppies and any dogs that were pregnant.
On May 15, the Hawaii Island Humane Society announced the effort to rescue the dogs in a bid to find volunteers who could foster the animals.
Fosters, the organization said, should be able to care for the dogs until they can be adopted or help find a home for the dogs.
The organization said the dogs “appear to not have any serious medical conditions,” and that every dog would be examined by a veterinarian, vaccinated, microchipped and spayed or neutered.
Those interested in fostering can call the organization at 329-1175. They are also accepting monetary donations at www.HIHS.org and in-kind donations of towels, dog beds, food and water bowls and toys.
The Humane Society declined interviews with West Hawaii Today. Executive director Donna Whitaker said their “primary focus at this time is to assist the dog owner as we continue to rescue the remainder of the dogs.”
Since that first rush, Cababag said, the Humane Society has continued coming down to Ocean View every couple of days, bringing hundreds of pounds of food and water and taking away more dogs when they can.
On Wednesday, when West Hawaii Today visited Cababag’s Ocean View property, about 60 dogs remained.
As he walked along the rocky trail on his property, Cababag spoke to several of the dogs by name as they came out from under their pallet shelters.
Later that afternoon, a van from the Hawaii Island Humane Society pulled up to the parcel with two humane officers from the Hawaii Island Humane Society, ready to rescue three more dogs: Bradda and Avalanche – both 2 years old – and Keiko, 4.
Cababag said he plans to keep a maximum of 15 dogs, specifying they’d be dogs that are older or more “alpha,” and therefore less likely to be adopted.
He also said all of the dogs he keeps will be spayed or neutered.
And once all the dogs are given new homes, he said, he’s looking forward to getting back to his art and music.
Cababag said he’s extremely grateful for the Humane Society’s efforts to find safe homes for all the other dogs. Without their help, he said, the dogs’ outlook would be bleak.
“They getting one chance,” he said. “They getting one damn chance in life.”
