After DLNR prohibited cat advocates from feeding the feral felines in Waikoloa, two organizations rallied others to support an island-wide adoption campaign.
Jeremy Lee joined KITV after over a decade & a half in broadcast news from coast to coast on the mainland. Jeremy most recently traveled the country documenting protests & civil unrest.
After DLNR prohibited cat advocates from feeding the feral felines in Waikoloa, two organizations rallied others to support an island-wide adoption campaign.
64 Feral cats that were part of the cat colony at Queens marketplace in Waikoloa .. now have a home.
WAIKOLOA, Hawaii (KITV4) -- There was a lot of talk, a lot of bickering on social media, and general discord between Team Cat and Team Nene. But through all the noise, a collective effort emerged to try to get the cats of Queen's Marketplace adopted and into homes.
Two organizations have taken the lead and successfully were able to get permission to trap cats. They collected 64 in all in their first effort.
Those cats have now been spayed and neutered. They have been given their vaccination shots and been microchipped. They're currently being socialized in their new homes.
KITV4 spoke with John Hopf of "Aloha Animal Oasis" about the initiative.
"So once the social media posts started circulating that the nene goose were in the same space as the cats. That's when we were alerted," Hopf said about his entry into the high-pitched controversy, "And that's when we started to work behind the scenes to try to put this plan together to get these cats relocated to different parts of the island."
The goal? "To get them away from the more public area of the Queen's shops and more importantly, the native species, the nene goose," Hopf said.
Hopf says the collective effort enjoyed support from DLNR and Alexander Baldwin, the ownership group for Queen's Marketplace. All were eager for a practical solution to the controversy.
"Several other organizations stepped up, HAKA, which is based on the east side of Big Island," Hopf said, "We definitely wanted to go through all the proper channels, through Alexander and Baldwin, the DLNR-- because of the nene presence up there, we just had to make sure we had their approval in order to get up there and trap."
Ultimately, cat lovers on the Big Island would like to see a cat sanctuary similar to one that currently exists on Lanai.
There will be a couple of weeks, however, before the next trapping excursion can take place. If the traps are out with too much frequency, advocates say, the felines will figure a way around them.
Also, there has to be a home lined up for the cats.
Jeremy Lee joined KITV after over a decade & a half in broadcast news from coast to coast on the mainland. Jeremy most recently traveled the country documenting protests & civil unrest.
