Felines can’t take all
The issue: An infestation of fleas at a
the blame for fleas
Manoa preschool presents health and
child-care concerns for parents.
Cats may be the direct cause of the flea infestation at a Manoa preschool, but ultimately the blame lies with every person who sometime, somewhere, for whatever reason, abandoned a feline pet.The University of Hawaii Manoa Children's Center has been closed for fumigation off and on for the past two weeks -- causing parents to scramble to find alternate child care at added costs -- because of the fleas that officials say were brought by "feral" cats. Labeling the cats that way implies that the felines are capable of caring for themselves in the wild when, in fact, the majority of them are domesticated animals their owners dumped or lost.
That they can present a health danger to humans, especially children, cannot be ignored, but solutions for trimming their numbers must be compassionate.
Hawaiian Humane Society officials can't estimate how many abandoned or roaming cats populate the island. They just know there are a lot of them, perhaps hundreds of colonies in parks, neighborhoods, urban areas -- any place they can find food and shelter.
"It's not a big, major societal issue," said David Karl, a University of Hawaii professor. "But if people knew how these cats suffer, they would be outraged."
Karl represents a loose organization of "cat managers" who care for the animals on the Manoa campus and seek to reduce the population by controlling birth rates. Managers trap the animals, take them to the Humane Society for health evaluations and neutering, then return them to the colony where they are fed and cared for.
The Humane Society supports this program and others like it around Oahu. Director Eve Holt says homeless cats are a problem nationwide and many communities have adopted the program because it works.
In 1992, Chaminade University was plagued with 150 animals, but through the program has reduced the population to 50, and at Magic Island, the 200 cats that once roamed the park now number just 14, she said.
The program requires patience because the lifespan of a cat runs from 4 to 10 years and every day more cats are abandoned or lost. It can be costly because managers pay for food and veterinary care out of their own pockets. These people should be commended for their community-minded efforts.
Holt urges pet owners who no longer want an animal to bring it to the Humane Society where it has a chance to find another home. The agency does so for 88 percent of all adoptable cats and 86 percent of adoptable dogs. People who find a lost animal also should take them to the society so their owners can be located.
Although state law prohibits animal desertion with punishment of up to a year in jail and a fine of $1,000, no one has ever been prosecuted, Holt said. "But there's always a first time."
Sometimes, a cliche is irresistibly true. In the case of Kimo Wilder McVay, you can say honestly that they don't make 'em that way any more. IN APPRECIATION
Aloha to irrepressible
Kimo McVayAnyone and everyone who had any contact with the Honolulu promoter has a "Kimo story." An irrepressible pixie and raconteur whose life was laced with the twin burdens of tragedy and duty, McVay spent his life trying to persuade us that people are better than they are. In the case of Don Ho, it was absolutely true. In the case of a thousand lesser talents and causes, McVay tried just as hard, and demanded -- in his charming, bluffly joking style -- that we take a second look, that we reconsider, that we stop and absorb and enjoy the parade of human-kind. Hawaii was the perfect place for him.
McVay's father was pilloried by the U.S. Navy; members of his family suffered from mental instability and physical ailments; there were times when he was destitute; there was a dark desperation in McVay's soul. But he always kept it together, despite it all, and made you smile in the process. A hell of a guy.
Every reporter at times dreaded a call from McVay, for it meant not only that he had some scheme that needed publicizing, but that you'd be swept along by his high spirits and goofy joy, and you'd be grinning when you hung up. Reporters hate that. Me, I'm going to miss those calls. They don't make 'em like McVay any more.
Burl Burlingame
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