Musings: Taking Responsibility

While perusing plants at the nursery, I noticed most were root-bound, eager to leave the confines of their small plastic pots and stretch out in a bigger space. It was almost as if they were all saying, “pick me, pick me,” like the dogs at the animal shelter when you walk among their kennels.

The Kauai Humane Society has been much in the news lately, with disgruntled employees publicly leveling charges both petty and profound against director Penny Cistaro. Most recently, I saw a “bullet points” document from the Kauai Coalition for Animals that takes direct aim at Penny from cover of anonymity.

It was written — with no disclosure of its author or the people behind the Coalition, which I’d never heard of — after the KHS board reviewed the documents that supposedly indicted Penny and opted to solidly stand behind her. 

Why aren’t the instigators putting their names behind their words, especially when they make such serious charges? That seems pretty cowardly, and it’s difficult to assess the credibility of their claims when we don’t know who is leveling them.

When the  petition to oust Penny first hit the news, a friend texted me a link to the “exclusive" hawaiinewsnow piece with the comment, “What a drama prone org.”

Indeed. The KHS has always been wracked with drama, in part because its mission requires people who love animals to kill large numbers of them. Add to that the fact that many folks chose to work with animals because they aren’t so good with people and you’ve got a recipe for constant conflict.

I know, because I did grant writing and public relations for KHS between 1997 and 2000, raising money for the new shelter. I saw the Board of Directors, under then-President Laura Wiley, hang Director Sherry Hoe out to dry, resulting in my resignation along with much of the staff.

Sherry was crucified for allegedly inflating the numbers of euthanasia, while Penny is now being fried for supposedly under-reporting them.

Nobody likes the idea that some 70 percent of the animals that come into the shelter are euthanized. Most of these are feral cats, which are not very adoptable. 

Even Pierce “plant the beach in front of his TVR” Brosnan piled on, saying the shelter should focus on more adoptions and innovative spay-neuter programs.

Like he apparently doesn’t think that’s what the shelter has been trying to do for years. But what he and others either don’t know, or won’t say, is how Kauai veterinarians have long fought free spay-neuter programs because they cut into their profits.

And does anyone really believe that folks on Kauai can adopt any more pets? Most people are already maxed out on dogs, though I’ve seen volunteers taking dogs to the farmers market in Lihue in an attempt to find them homes, and some dogs are sent to shelters on the west coast.

Still, there’s an abundance of dogs and cats nationwide, which is why so many animals are put down all across the country.

Part of the antagonism toward Penny comes from the cat caretaker groups who want to keep caring for feral cat colonies, even though they prey on native birds and their feces contain a bacteria that has caused at least one monk seal death. Others are mad because KHS does euthanize animals, and they want a no-kill shelter.

While no-kill shelters sound great and we’d all love to see unwanted animals find a home, there’s an ugly truth to the concept, and it’s this: no kill shelters can exist only because other shelters do kill.

Anyone who doesn’t spay-neuter their animals contributes to this over-population, along with all the folks who encourage breeding by paying big money for specific breeds.

In the TV news clip, KHS enforcement officer Mana Brown also ragged on Penny, saying cages aren’t being cleaned — perhaps because workers are bitching about the boss instead of working? — and “a lot of things are being left undone.”

I think most of us can remember Mana’s own very public failures, since he was the field officer who failed to intervene in two long-standing dog abuse and neglect cases — one in Wailua and the other in Puhi — until animals were found dead. A friend also detailed her inability to get Mana to take action in a horse abuse case in Anahola.

So maybe Mana should focus on improving his own work habits before he impugns his boss.

And that’s the underlying message to the disgruntled workers and those who left comments on The Garden Island articles trashing Penny because the shelter hasn’t done this or that.

Go volunteer at the shelter, and/or make a donation. They have way more needs and demands than their budget can ever fulfill. Money and bodies are always needed. It’s so easy to point the finger at Penny, but she’s got to have one of the hardest jobs on Kauai. No doubt things could be improved there, as at any nonprofit, but does it really serve the best interest of the animals to have a revolving door for directors and a surly, disgruntled staff?

Caring for, and euthanizing, animals rejected and/or mistreated by society is a painful and ugly task, with a high burnout factor. We can all do our part to reduce the need for this sad service by being responsible pet owners.