Instead of working cooperatively with the Maui Humane Society to address the feral cat situation, as other animal agencies on Maui are doing, 9th Life has continually relied on the Maui Humane Society over the years to provide spay/neuter surgeries and other services for its cats, yet the current Executive Director, Phyllis Tavares, now takes every opportunity to publicly denounce MHS for euthanizing animals. It serves no purpose to make the Maui Humane Society appear to be the “enemy” in this matter, happily euthanizing homeless cats by the hundreds. Nothing could be further from the truth. For those of us who love cats—and that includes the staff of the Maui Humane Society—the feline overpopulation situation on our island is heartbreaking. There is no pleasure taken in euthanizing any creature, but the facts of life are that at this point, on this island, with the cat population as it is, it must sometimes be done. These cats are not euthanized “simply because they are homeless,” as Tavares often states. Many of the feral cats brought to the Humane Society are injured or ill. I can personally attest to the fact that nearly half of the male feral cats in my area of West Maui taken in for neutering have tested positive for Feline AIDS, so yes, they are euthanized. Would it be more humane to release them back to the wild to die a slow, lingering death from the disease, while spreading it to other cats? Would 9th Life like me to drop them off at their no-kill shelter?

Rather than continuing to point fingers at the Maui Humane Society for euthanizing cats, it would be more productive for 9th Life to support the efforts of MHS in educating our community. The Maui Humane Society is not the enemy. Those to blame for this sad situation are the people who continue to let their unneutered male cats roam the neighborhood, adding to the feral population; those who decide they can’t keep their cat anymore so abandon it to live in the wild; those who continue to allow their female cats to produce kittens; those who bring feral cats into the Humane Society, somehow expecting that the staff will magically tame the poor creatures and make them adoptable. It’s not that easy.

In the Maui Weekly story that you referred to, it is stated that since the inception of the 9th Life agency in 1998, they have “led the way” in feline population control by sterilizing over 900 cats on our island. Nine hundred cats? In ten years? Over 2,300 cats were sterilized last year alone through the Maui Humane Society’s in-house, low-cost and free spay/neuter programs. 9th Life is doing a good job, spaying, neutering, and sheltering cats on a limited basis. Every sterilization makes a difference. But the cat crisis on Maui is bigger than any one individual or organization can handle, and we must all work together as partners if we are going to accomplish the common goal. 9th Life of Hawaii is not the only organization helping Maui’s cats, nor is it necessarily the most effective.

The Maui Humane Society has partnered with the Feline Foundation of Maui to specifically address the feral cat population across our island. MHS is involved in all animal-related issues (cats, dogs, guinea pigs, chickens, you name it) on many levels, and the agency realized that having one entity to focus full-time ONLY on feral cats is the best approach. The Feline Foundation of Maui has one mission—to humanely curb the cat population on Maui through the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) method. As part of this program, there are volunteers all across the island who have adopted “colonies” of feral cats, humanely trapping them, sterilizing them, then returning them to their original location where food and water is provided on an ongoing basis. This approach has proved successful in communities around the world. But it takes time, and it takes volunteers.

My recommendation to your readers is this: if you want to help Maui’s cats, yes, go ahead and donate to 9th Life of Hawaii, if you wish. They have a commendable mission, and I wish them well in achieving it. But also donate to the Maui Humane Society and the Feline Foundation of Maui. Even better, go a step beyond and volunteer to help by adopting a cat colony, assisting a current cat colony caretaker, or offering to foster young feral kittens—socializing them so they can be adopted into loving homes through the Maui Humane Society. For more information, visit www.mauihumanesociety.org or www.mauicats.com

Aloha,
Candy Aluli