---

Noisy-dog calls again
go to Humane Society

Question: Our Kailua neighbor's three dogs have been barking incessantly, and our discussions with him have not brought any relief. We called 911. The first time, the police officer arrived, listened to the dogs barking for 10 minutes and left a warning (not a citation) on the neighbor's car since he was not at home. The second time, the police officer said that we should complain to the Hawaiian Humane Society because the Honolulu Police Department couldn't help us. He said that the Humane Society could investigate and take action that HPD couldn't do. We then called the Humane Society and were told that they would only take complaints of neglected animals, not barking dogs. They referred me to 911 and HPD! Who enforces Hawaii's animal nuisance law on Oahu? Who can help us bring relief from our neighbor's nonstop barking dogs?

Answer: After months of being in limbo, we can now give a definitive answer.

You can once again direct complaints about excessively barking dogs to the Hawaiian Humane Society (call 946-2187).

The nonprofit organization, which receives city funding to handle specific animal control activities, gave up responding to animal nuisance complaints in 2002, after it was unable to obtain additional funds to cover all its city-related services.

The task then fell to HPD.

Armed with a new one-year, $1.78 million contract with the city that took effect Friday, the organization said it again will be assisting HPD in responding to nuisance barking, as well as dog-bite complaints. (A dog owner is in violation of the city's animal nuisance law if a dog barks intermittently for 30 minutes or constantly for 10 minutes "to the disturbance of others.")

Dog bites or vicious dog complaints should still be reported first to police.

"We'll make a report, which will be forwarded to the Humane Society to follow up on," said HPD Maj. Michael Thomas, of the Wahiawa station.

Thomas said having the Humane Society involved again "will take a lot of the burden" off HPD: The "whole police department" got its share of calls about barking dogs, he said.

However, complaints about noisy roosters should still be directed to police, said HHS Executive Director Pamela Burns.

The humane society believes this fowl problem is mainly a zoning issue, since up to two roosters are allowed in residential neighborhoods.

"If you're going to allow roosters in your community, they're going to crow," Burns said. "We really don't feel that's a role for us." On the other hand, the HHS believes it can help to educate pet owners on how to teach their dogs to bark only at appropriate times.

But be warned: if you want the Humane Society to follow through on a barking dog complaint, you can't remain anonymous.

The organization is still working out details with HPD, Burns said, but the procedure will be something like this:

For the first complaint, the HHS will send a letter, plus educational material, to the owner, saying a complaint had been received. Up to this point, the caller can remain anonymous.

"Other than initially sending a letter to the dog owner (on a first complaint), we're not going to respond to anonymous complaints," Burns said.

For a second complaint within a month about the same dog, the HHS will send an investigator to meet with the owner and try to resolve the problem.

If there is a third complaint, the complainant will need to sign an affidavit detailing the problem. Based on that, the HHS will issue a citation and the owner could face fines of up to $1,000.

If the owner challenges the citation, the matter would end up in court. That's why the HHS needs to have someone to be the official complainant.

Often, if a case went to court, the judge would want to know whom the dog was bothering and where the complainant was, Burns said.

"We don't feel we should be issuing citations based on somebody who is not willing to come forward and say it bothers them," she said. "We're trying to get away from being used as a whipping post between battling neighbors," as well.

As always, the recommendation is to first try to resolve any problem neighbor-to-neighbor, or through such community resources as The Mediation Center of the Pacific.

But the Humane Society also advises that if there is concern that a dog is barking because of suspicious activity, such as a break-in, or domestic violence, to call 911.

Burns acknowledged the role of the HHS may be "confusing to the public, because we're the only nonprofit nongovernmental agency that issues citations." It has deputized enforcement officers, but they "are fully employed by the Humane Society."

In many jurisdictions, animal enforcement is handled by a municipal agency.

But in Honolulu, Burns explained, the Humane Society is an independent contractor that has provided animal control services for the city for more than 60 years.

Of the HHS's annual budget of $4.6 million, only about one-third is funded by the city to provide animal control services tied to the issue of public safety.

That includes responding to animal complaints 24 hours a day and sheltering stray animals.

The rest of the organization's funding comes from private donations, grants, fees, etc., to fund animal welfare activities, including animal adoptions, public education programs, foster care for pets, animal behavior training and legislative advocacy, Burns said. Programs such as feral cat sterilizations also are not funded by the city.

The HHS's city contract calls for a lump-sum payment to cover all specified services.

In 2001, Burns said, the HHS told the city that it had been underwriting part of the contract -- using $60,000 in private money to cover costs. It agreed to cover the costs for that year, but said "we couldn't continue to underwrite the costs of a government, municipal responsibility with private charity money."

In 2002, the city administration, without success, asked the City Council to increase the HHS contract by $80,000. The HHS and administration then renegotiated the animal services contract, Burns said, with two services removed from "the scope of work:" the maintenance of the dog licensing system and responding to animal nuisance complaints.

The HHS had long been considered the only one qualified to handle the services and thus yearly was awarded the "sole source contract," but an attempt was made to seek other groups to bid on the contract. At that point, handling animal nuisance complaints was not to be part of the new contract.

But Burns said the HHS was contacted in late 2004 and asked to make a "best and final offer," including handling barking dog complaints.

In addition to the $1.78 million agreed upon for animal control services, the city gives the HHS $405,000 for the city's "Neuter Now" sterilization program.

But that $405,000 is a "pass through," in which the money is passed on to participating private veterinarians. The HHS administers the program without charge.

|

---

---