PUHI, Hawaii >> Pet owners on Kauai will soon have a place to take their animals if another hurricane strikes the Garden Isle. New Kauai relief shelter
built with a mind for petsThe island is still "desperate" to
find more space for peopleAssociated Press
The Kauai Humane Society's facility in Puhi is the first shelter in the state and one of the few in the nation where pets and their owners can go during a storm or other natural disasters.
Before, only people were allowed to take refuge at Kauai's 13 public shelters, and pets had to be left at home.
"People are reluctant to leave pets behind," Kauai Civil Defense Administrator Mark Marshall said. "They put themselves in harm's way to shelter their pets at home."
The work to bring the facility into compliance started earlier this month and was scheduled to be completed yesterday, said Karen Taketa of the Contractors Association of Kauai.
The facility was made possible by the Contractors Association of Kauai and a "Builders Care" grant from the National Association of Home Builders.
Kauai still does not have enough shelter space for its 58,000 residents. The island's 13 public shelters have a total of 19,343 spaces, Marshall said.
That's barely enough to support the daily visitor count of 15,000 to 18,000.
"We're desperate to find more shelter spaces," he said.
When the Puhi shelter is operational, it will be able to house 300 people in the basement, according to federal guidelines. Pets will be confined inside crates and cared for upstairs in the kennel area.
Becky Rhodes, director of the Kauai Humane Society, said the facility still needs to purchase a diesel fuel tank to run the generator to provide electricity. The Puhi facility has its own water source, which runs by an electric pump.
Hurricane Iniki, the last major storm to hit Hawaii, devastated Kauai in 1992, causing $2.4 billion in damage.