QUESTION: Walking home one day in March, I noticed a cat dead alongside the walkway on Fort Barrette Road in Kapolei. I called the city's “;dead animal collection”; office for Aiea/Ewa late that afternoon and was told everyone was gone for the day but that a message would be left for the day shift. For the rest of the week, there was no pickup of the animal. The next week, I called “;dead animal collection”; earlier in the day and again gave the location of the animal. This time, I was told Fort Barrette was a state road, so the information would be relayed to the state to handle. But no one ever came to remove the cat. It's unfortunate that a simple task of picking up a dead animal gets tied up in bureaucracy. How can this be handled in the future?

ANSWER: You did the right thing by calling the city's dead animal collection number, but it looks like the ball got dropped twice on the other end.

The city Department of Facility Maintenance handles dead animal removal for city roads outside the downtown Honolulu area, said Markus Owens, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Services. His department handles the service for the Honolulu area.

Owens called the Aiea-Pearl City-Ewa office and was told the protocol is to ask people who report a dead animal on a state road to call the state Department of Transportation directly, in case there are any questions.

Not only was that message not relayed to you, your report apparently never was forwarded.

“;We did not get any calls regarding a dead animal pickup on Fort Barrette Road in March,”; said Department of Transportation spokeswoman Tammy Mori.

Typically, she said, “;We have a one-hour response time to these calls; therefore, when we do get them, we immediately call H-3 Tunnels, who will then dispatch the appropriate crew.”;

She said the public can call the H-3 Tunnels directly, 24 hours a day, at 485-6200 or 485-6201; or Mori's Public Affairs Office at 587-2160 with any questions or concerns.

For city roads, numbers for dead animal collection can be found online at http://www.honolulu.gov/csd/publiccom/onecall.htm (click on “;R,”; then scroll to “;refuse collection, dead animal pickup”;).

All dead animals are taken to Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill.

“;All dead animals must receive approval from (the landfill) staff before bringing them onto the property, because (the state Department of Health) must be informed where the carcasses are buried,”; Owens said.

QUESTION: I'm curious about the times for garbage pickup in Makakilo. I've had them here at 6:10 a.m., but I'm getting conflicting reports about what time they can leave. I was told they can't leave until 5:45 a.m. to make it up to Makakilo, and I'm not even the first pickup street. How does that work? One person told me there is no set time to leave, and one told me they can't leave until 5:45 a.m. Is there a set standard time for rubbish pickup?

ANSWER: It doesn't matter what time they leave, so long as they do not start picking up the trash before 6 a.m.

Generally, trucks leave the base yards around 5:45 a.m., but they could leave earlier depending how far away from the yard their route begins, said Markus Owens, spokesman for the city Department of Environmental Services.

“;They are instructed not to start routes till 6 a.m.”;