Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
Changing Hawaii
EARLIER this month, Rexann Dubiel was one of 10 people who submitted testimony in support of Senate Bill 643. It would authorize the four counties to enact and enforce ordinances relating to dangerous dogs -- dogs that attack, injure or kill a person or domestic pet. Bravery in the face
of attacking dogDubiel, who lives on the North Shore, described how her 9-year-old terrier, Gutzie, was fatally attacked by a stray pit bull three days before Christmas.
In a Feb. 16 Star-Bulletin story, Dubiel asked Hawaii residents to share their own tales of dog attacks (via e-mail to dangerousdogshawaii@hotmail.com) so they can be forwarded on to legislators.
As a matter of fact, Ms. Dubiel, here's an incident I heard about just this weekend.
At 1:30 on the morning of Feb. 13, 60-year-old Kaimuki resident Hoichiro Inui had just begun walking Tiny, his 2-1/2-year-old Cavalier King Charles spaniel, on quiet 19th Avenue when he heard an ominous growling.
Suddenly, a snarling pit bull pounced on Inui's brown-and-white pet, tearing at its chest and barely missing its throat.
Inui scooped up Tiny as a protective measure, which caused the pit bull to turn on the retired Hitachi service manager. He fell to the roadside and cried out for help.
Fortunately, Galo Camacho came to the rescue.
Camacho, a 44-year-old maintenance supervisor for the Federal Aviation Administration, woke up, grabbed his four-iron and, clad only in his sleeping shorts, gave the pit bull a half dozen whacks with the golf club. It released its grip on Inui and slunk away.
The bare-footed Camacho ran back into his home, called 911, then waited with the distressed dog-attack victim for the ambulance and police. Inui sustained bites on his fingers and arms, and suffered a large bruise on his thigh when he fell to the ground.
The pit bull, which had escaped from a nearby yard, was sent to the Hawaiian Humane Society. Its owner has apologized profusely and offered to pay Inui's and Tiny's medical/veterinarian expenses.
IN the aftermath of his trauma, Inui is experiencing mixed emotions.
Foremost, he is grateful to Camacho for saving him and his beloved pet from the attack of the pit bull.
He is angry that the dog was loose in the first place.
He is also jittery, because this is the second time since 1992 that he's been attacked by a pit bull in Honolulu.
Lastly, Inui is worried about other people, especially children and senior citizens who stroll in residential areas that were once considered safe, but which now could harbor vicious animals.
Oh, I see. Now I understand why walkers getting exercise in residential communities, especially women and the elderly, are carrying umbrellas all the time, even when it doesn't look like rain.
It's for protection against dog attacks, isn't it?
People like Inui, Camacho and Dubiel can attest that, even in "paradise," man's best friend can turn into a pet's and/or human's worst enemy as fast as a dog can bark. The laws against such assailants need strengthening.
Diane Yukihiro Chang's column runs Monday and Friday.
She can be reached by phone at 525-8607, via e-mail at
dchang@starbulletin.com, or by fax at 523-7863.