STAR-BULLETIN / JANUARY 2002 Maui Humane Society animal control supervisor Aimee Anderson holds two dogs that are up for adoption. The dogs were taken from a house along with 80 other dogs and 14 cats.

Ex-owner wants
7 of 96 pets back

A Humane Society supervisor
says no promises were made
to keep animals alive

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By Gary Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> The woman who had 96 animals removed from her Haiku home said yesterday that she wants back the seven dogs that were not destroyed by the Maui Humane Society.

Jean Bermudez said if she had known the Humane Society was going to kill most of her animals, she would not have consented to their removal.

Bermudez said Humane Society officials assured her the animals would be treated well.

"I said, 'I hope you not going kill my dogs.' I told them more than twice. They told me, 'Don't worry.'" she said.

Aimee Anderson, the Humane Society's animal control supervisor, said her group was not going to return the animals to Bermudez "at this point."

"At this point we're not comfortable releasing any animals," Anderson said.

Anderson said Bermudez signed three forms surrendering her dogs and cats to the Humane Society and was told in detail each time that she was giving up ownership of the animals.

Anderson said no promises were made regarding whether the animals would be destroyed.

"We did tell her we would do the best we could," Anderson said. "We didn't know where we would be at the end of this picture."

Humane Society workers removed 82 dogs and 14 cats on Jan. 4 from the three-bedroom home at West Lelehuna Place, including a dog that apparently had been killed by other dogs.

Officials said there was feces and urine in various rooms and that the animals had a variety of health problems, including sores and heartworms.

Bermudez said she could not afford to spay her animals, and they began to increase from interbreeding. She said she also received dogs from friends and relatives.

Bermudez said she treated the dogs' sores with ointments and a cactus extract.

She said she called the Humane Society Jan. 4 after the dogs began fighting with each other because they were hungry and waiting for her husband to return that day with dog food.

"When I saw them, I was scared because I didn't have my husband," she said.

Bermudez said the house was not in the kind of condition described by the Humane Society and that many of the 14 cats were husky and in good condition.

"They make us seem as if we monsters," she said. "I'm not that kind of person. I never abused my dogs. I loved them. They all had names."