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To Mayor Kimo Alameda and the Hawaiʻi County Council:

We, the undersigned, call on you to REJECT BILL 51 in its current form and instead take action that reflects our island’s values of compassion, community, and kuleana.

BILL 51 GETS IT WRONG!!

Criminalizing cat feeding won’t solve the problem — it amplifies it:

• Starving cats doesn’t make them vanish; it drives them into sensitive ecosystems, increases disease, leads to more kittens, and intensifies community conflict.

• This approach punishes caregivers instead of addressing underlying causes — and it makes our island less humane.

We understand the goal is to protect native wildlife. But Bill 51 ignores both the root causes and the real solutions.   We urge you, Mayor Alameda, to course-correct — and join us in supporting humane, effective, and proven strategies.

THE REALITY ON THE GROUND

Families across our island face:

• Spay/neuter costs they can’t afford

• Veterinary care that’s out of reach

• Pet-averse rentals, forcing people to give up animals

• Trying To Feed their pets despite rising living costs

When families surrender pets — often dumped at transfer stations, parks, or shopping centers — what emerges is labeled “community cats.”   These cats aren’t feral monsters — they’re lost, dumped, or abandoned — and we need to fix the broken system behind it.

OUR SOLUTION: TWO-PRONGED ACTION

We invite you, Mayor Alameda, to support a real plan — one led by local organizations, volunteers, and residents already making progress:


PRONG ONE: Keep Cats with Their Families

Support our ʻohana BEFORE pets are surrendered:

1. Free or low-cost spay/neuter services

2. Affordable veterinary and wellness clinics

3. Protections for renters with pets

4. Emergency pet food assistance
   
   

PRONG TWO: Effectively Manage Community Cat Populations

Deploy proven, humane methods to stabilize and reduce colonies:

1. TNVR (Trap‑Neuter‑Vaccinate‑Return‑Manage) programs — the only population-control approach that works.

2. Adoption programs for sociable or friendly cats

3. Certified colony caretakers, with:

   • Monitoring and identification tools

   • Wildlife-safe, posted feeding stations

   • Management and conservation training

4. Strategic relocation from sensitive environments

5. Networks of fosters and sanctuaries to rehome cats

These approaches tackle the cause — not just symptoms.   They’re backed by data, used nationwide, and already yielding results here on our island.

WHY BILL 51 WILL BACKFIRE

If enacted, Bill 51 will:

• Drive compassionate caretakers underground

• Increase dumping of unwanted pets

• Undermine trust and momentum gained by years of volunteer efforts

• Waste County resources enforcing an unenforceable law

• Ultimately produce more suffering — for cats, wildlife, and our community
  
  

WE STAND FOR ALOHA-BASED SOLUTIONS

Rather than criminalize care, let’s uplift the work already underway by the following organizations:

AdvoCATS, Action 4 Animals Hawaii, Aloha Animal Alliance, Aloha Animal Oasis, CatSnip, Feed the Kitty, Good Karma Spay & Neuter, Jungle Cat Ladies Sanctuary, Kahu Popoki - Care For Our Cat Ohana, KARES Hawai'i, Petfix Hawai'i, Pueo Dog Sanctuary, Rainbow Friends, Volcano Cat Sanctuary, and others!

ALL working together to roll out these humane solutions across the island.

SIGN THE PETITION — AND JOIN THE MOVEMENT

Together we can:

• Stop the cycle of abandonment

• Keep families and pets united

• Reduce cat colony size over time — while protecting wildlife

We can solve this — but not with Bill 51.

Mayor Alameda, we urge you: reject this bill and stand with us — our ʻohana, our cats, and our island values.

With aloha,

Your fellow residents of Hawaiʻi Island.

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