Woman injured
in midst of dogfight

Her dog fought a pack of hunting
dogs along Manana Trail

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By B.J. Reyes
breyes@starbulletin.com

A woman walking her German shepherd along the Manana Trail yesterday was injured after getting in the middle of a fight between her dog and a pack of hunting dogs, authorities said.

Doris Nakagawa, 42, of Pacific Palisades, was bitten on her left forearm and right hand in the scuffle before noon, Waiau fire Capt. Wayne Yasutomi said.

"I guess the dogs got excited and attacked the German shepherd, and she got in the way," Yasutomi said. "According to the hunter, the German shepherd started barking or growling at the other dogs."

Pearl City police officer R. Worthington said the hunter, who had eight dogs, was leaving the trail when the woman was heading in.

"Their dogs got into a fight," Worthington said. "She tried to jump in and keep her dog back."

The hunter and the woman eventually separated the dogs, Worthington said.

Nakagawa was taken to Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center, where a nursing supervisor said she was doing fine but did not wish to speak to reporters. Her dog was taken to a veterinarian and required stitches for multiple bite wounds.

The hunter was questioned by police, but no charges are planned, Worthington said. Both hikers and hunters are allowed on the Manana Trail.

Yesterday's incident comes about two months after a similar attack along Aiea Loop Trail, which is closed to hunting.

Karen Wright, 38, needed surgery on her right hand after hunting dogs attacked her greyhound and then attacked her when she tried to pull them off, authorities said. The greyhound was able to flee, and the owners of the hunting dogs arrived to pull their dogs off Wright.

John Hall, a representative of the Hawaiian Trail and Mountain Club, called yesterday's incident on the Manana Trail unfortunate.

"I'm very sorry to hear it," Hall said. "Generally, we have a pretty good relationship with hunters on the trail."

However, he added, "if you do have a dog yourself, there's always a risk."

In June, Gov. Ben Cayetano signed into law a bill that allows Hawaii's four counties to establish their own ordinances against vicious dogs.

Hall said he was not sure if anything more could be done to protect hikers in areas where hunting is also allowed.

"Hunters obviously have to have their dogs running loose in order to look for the pigs," he said. "It is good, of course, to restrict dogs that are vicious toward humans. But I don't think most hunters have dogs like that."