By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
There are probably several hundred wild cats living
around the UH-Manoa campus, including this group that
emerged for a feeding. In the foreground, David Karl shows some of
the needles he found in some of the cats.
Cat lovers upset
at UH treatment
of feral felines
An animal-rights activist
By Pat Omandam
found a needle imbedded in
the leg of one of the cats
Star-BulletinOceanography Professor David Karl was feeding a colony of feral cats at the University of Hawaii's Manoa campus two weeks ago when he noticed what appeared to be a small, bright-green plastic cup stuck on the right hindquarter of Moonface.
When Karl got closer to the 8-year-old tabby, he saw it wasn't a cup -- but the end of a 4-inch-long dartlike needle that was lodged 3 inches into its leg.
"It was obvious to me that this projectile had been fired from some sort of gun," said Karl, who cares for the group of cats near Maile Way and Farrington Road on the upper campus.
Upset that someone was attacking the cat population on the grounds, Karl tried to file a report with campus security but said he was turned away. That lack of action prompted him to fire off a strong memo Tuesday to UH executives asking that they address the issue of animal rights for the felines.
Karl believes the feral cats are covered under federal rules that protect laboratory animals because they are part of the animal community at the UH.
"As the past chairperson of the UH committee on ethics in scientific research, I know that there are strict federal guidelines for the humane treatment of all laboratory animals, and violation of these animal rights can have serious consequences," he said.
Those directly in charge of campus upkeep say the Manoa cats are a recurring problem. But with no official policy to guide them, they try to strike a between the health and safety of people and the dogged determination of UH cat lovers who go out of their way to care for the animals, said Farouk Wang, director of buildings and grounds management on campus.
Consequently, UH workers only trap and take cats to the Hawaiian Humane Society when they pose an inconvenience or health hazard, such as when the animals' fleas and lice begin to infest buildings, as was the case four years ago with portable buildings on Manoa's lower campus.
By Wang's estimate, there are a few hundred feral cats on campus, located in five areas. They are the Maile Way site, the neighboring East-West Center, the law school, the UH dorms, and the lower campus portables behind the Stan Sheriff Arena.
A handful of people such as Karl regularly care for the animals, and have taken many to the Humane Society to be neutered or spayed and fitted with a microchip ID. The problem, Wang said, is that the society requires these animals be returned to their homes once those procedures are done.
Wang said his crews are not killing the cats, but that doesn't stop people from thinking there is a campus conspiracy to do so.
"If anybody wanted to kill cats, I've read about ways they can kill it," he said. "It's a lot easier than sticking needles in them. I wish that they would not be looking in that direction."
Roy Takekawa, director of UH-Manoa's environmental health and safety office, said the needle incident is not the first time someone has done mean things to campus cats. He said the animals are conditioned to be people-friendly by those who feed them, making them easy targets.
"If you're a mean person, you can take advantage of that," Takekawa said.
Capt. Donald F. Dawson, head of campus security, said he just received Karl's memo and is looking into why the professor's complaint was not filed by campus police.
Dawson said every attempt to address the long-standing campus feral cat problem has been thwarted by animal lovers who have made it a sensitive issue to tackle.
Karl, who doesn't have cats at home because he's allergic to them, worries that the lives of Moonface and other feline campus denizens -- among them Topsy, Dexter, Deeter and Dixie -- are in danger.
He hopes this incident will spark interest in the creation of an UH-sanctioned club he calls the Campus Cat Collective, allowing cat lovers access to some club money and the use of meeting rooms.
Becky Rhoades, Humane Society shelter director, said the Manoa campus is just one of many sites islandwide with a feral cat problem that tends to peak in June, July and August.
The way to control it, she said, is to discourage people from feeding the cats, which tends to draw other strays to the area.
Rhoades said people should report to police when they see anyone abandoning an animal or not properly caring for a pet, both of which are against the law.
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Professor David Karl feeds a colony of cats on Maile Way at the
University of Hawaii's Manoa campus. He is calling upon the university
to address animal rights for such animals.
Animal-rights group
By Pat Omandam
offers hefty reward
Star-BulletinAnimal-rights volunteers this week passed out fliers at the University of Hawaii-Manoa offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for cruelty to research animals.
Honolulu is the latest of 24 cities targeted by the research-crime reward program, which started 14 weeks ago by Chris DeRose, president and founder of Last Chance for Animals, a group he founded in 1985.
"This is a campaign designed to reduce crime and to prosecute criminals," DeRose said in a statement this week.
"Our goal is to alert every employee of every research laboratory in the nation so any criminals out there will have no one they can trust. Every week, we will be at different institutions somewhere in the country, handing out reward fliers to the labs' employees and visitors."
The $100,000 was donated by individuals who have a specific interest in seeing the conviction of researchers or institutions for crimes resulting from research on animals, he said.
Other cities targeted include Bethesda, Md.; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Columbus, Ohio; Ann Arbor, Mich.; Raleigh, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; Amherst, Mass.; and San Diego, Seattle, Boston, and Atlanta.
Last Chance for Animals, based in Los Angeles, conducts investigations, public awareness campaigns, legislation and litigation to reduce animal suffering and exploitation.
