Begging for answers
I recently had a devastating experience at the Hawaiian Humane Society.
A cat I had chosen to adopt was euthanized while I was in the HHS waiting room making arrangements to adopt him. When I emailed HHS demanding an explanation, I was told the cat was “too aggressive” to be “adoptable.”
Finding this response upsetting and unacceptable, I started researching HHS adoption statistics. What I discovered in the process was staggering. The Hawaiian Humane Society has been euthanizing 10,000 animals per year (possibly more now) and is quoted as having only a “3 percent adoption rate.”
What happens to the other 97 percent?
The devastating and shocking reality is they are euthanized and by a technique in which the animals suffer in agony for roughly 15 minutes.
I have seen no recent statistics reflecting any change from the above. Consequently, I am left with many questions and zero answers. For example, what does an animal have to do to fall into that fortunate 3 percent? What constitutes “too aggressive”?
When I was there, I saw a room full of animals stuffed into containers where they could barely move. Might this cause them to be aggressive? I would better characterize their state as “in total fear.”
Finally, and most urgently, if euthanasia is absolutely the only choice, is there any reason why an animal has to suffer in agony for roughly 15 minutes before they die? Are they trying to save a few pennies for further expansion and landscaping?
A totally painless technique is in use worldwide that involves sedation first and then a carefully administered pentobarbital solution.
I am requesting — no, begging — for an investigation indicating that the above statistics are no longer correct, and also that the euthanasia techniques used are now totally painless.
Otherwise, its name should be changed to the Hawaiian Inhumane Society.
Janet Liftee
Honolulu
