08/26/2026
Meanwhile in Hawaiiโฆ..๐๐๐ฝ๐พ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฝ๐พ๐ผ๐ป
Subject: Testimony in STRONG OPPOSITION to Proposed HAR Chapter 13-124 Amendments
Aloha Board Members and DLNR Leadership,
My name is Patrick C. Williams, and I am a resident of the Waiสปanae Coast on Oสปahu. My wife and I care deeply about Hawaiสปiโs native wildlife, our community, and the humane treatment of animals. I am submitting this testimony in strong opposition to the proposed amendments to HAR Chapter 13-124โparticularly broad feeding prohibitions and accelerated lethal impoundment.
We all want the same outcome: fewer free-roaming cats and greater protection for Hawaiสปiโs precious native species. However, starving cats, removing responsible caregivers, and disrupting humane population-control efforts will not accomplish that goal. It will drive cats away from monitored areas, make them more difficult to trap and sterilize, and dismantle the very partnerships already reducing their numbers.
This is not merely a theory to us. It is our lived experience.
With the help of CatFriends, more than 70 cats on our block alone have been spayed or neutered. CatFriends supplied traps and cages, offered guidance, and stood beside ordinary residents willing to do the difficult, time-consuming work of humane population control. That represents more than 70 cats that can no longer reproduce and countless future litters that were prevented.
That is measurable progress. That is what cooperation accomplishes.
Responsible caregivers are not the enemy of conservation. They know where community cats live, monitor new arrivals, identify sick or injured animals, facilitate trapping, and help prevent uncontrolled reproduction. If caregivers are threatened or prohibited from providing food, access to those catsโand the opportunity to sterilize themโmay be lost.
Please do not replace a functioning network of compassionate volunteers and nonprofit partners with a policy that may scatter colonies, interrupt spay-and-neuter work, and create greater suffering without addressing the source of the problem.
I respectfully urge DLNR to reject these proposed provisions and instead work collaboratively with CatFriends and other local organizations, community caregivers, wildlife advocates, veterinarians, and residents. Hawaiสปi needs expanded spay-and-neuter resources, responsible managed-feeding standards, stronger enforcement against animal abandonment, protection for sensitive wildlife habitats, and humane sanctuary or adoption options where appropriate.
Protecting native wildlife and treating cats humanely are not opposing values. Both are acts of stewardship. We can protect our สปฤina without abandoning compassion, and we can reduce community-cat populations through cooperation rather than division.
Please listen to the people already doing this workโoften at their own expense and with no recognition other than seeing fewer kittens born into hardship. CatFriends has shown our neighborhood what practical, humane action can accomplish. DLNR should strengthen those partnerships, not stand in their way.
Please reject the proposed amendments and pursue a balanced, humane, evidence-based plan that truly protects both Hawaiสปiโs wildlife and its community animals.
Mahalo for your time and consideration.
Patrick C. Williams
Waiสปanae Coast, Oสปahu
Once again, a blanket government proposal is pitting cat people against bird people, even though we all want the same thing: fewer free-roaming cats.
We want to be part of the effort to protect our precious native wildlife from cat predation. But this proposal to ban feeding is not just unrealistic, it could actually result in more cats on DLNR land by preventing spay/neuter.
If you haven't yet submitted testimony in opposition to the current proposed changes re: cat management on DLNR property, please take a moment to submit testimony, and to suggest more realistic, humane strategies instead. Feel free to use the testimony below as a starting point. Written testimony is due by this Wednesday, August 26th!
Upload it to the DLNR site here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScpwVaQdqzaIPYVqsa8GnJEDzDg2p5u5VAnNtbAMGfCAetRlA/viewform
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Subject: Testimony in OPPOSITION to Proposed HAR Chapter 13-124 Amendments
Aloha Board Members and DLNR Leadership,
I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed amendments to HAR Chapter 13-124. While I support protecting Hawaiสปiโs native species, these specific changesโparticularly broad feeding bans and accelerated lethal impoundmentโare counterproductive, overly broad, and inhumane.
Key concerns include:
โ Increased Harm to Wildlife: Outlawing feeding doesn't eliminate free-roaming animals; it forces hungry animals to hunt birds and scatters managed colonies across larger areas.
โ Disruption of Proven Control: Banning caregiver access halts critical Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage (TNRM) programs, removing the most effective tool to humanely reduce populations over time.
Instead of blanket prohibitions, DLNR should adopt humane, evidence-based solutions:
โ Exclusion Fencing: Invest directly in physical fencing to protect critical wildlife areas.
โ Large-Scale Cat Sanctuaries: Lanaโi has one, and their 2024 impact report cited zero cat-related bird deaths on Lanai since 2021. Support local nonprofit efforts to create one like it on all islands.
โ Subsidized TNRM Partnerships: Fund (or at least do not prohibit) aggressive spay/neuter initiatives with local non-profits to prevent litters at the source.
Please reject the proposed amendments in favor of collaborative, effective conservation strategies.
Mahalo for your time,
[Your Name]
[Your District/Island]
