Humane Society donations pour in
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
The story of the Hawaiian Humane Society's futile, $50,000 rescue attempt of a dog from an abandoned Indonesian oil tanker last week touched the hearts of people around the world, the society said yesterday.
By midday, contributions totaling more than $30,000 had come in and, said community relations director Eve Holt, "it just keeps coming in.
"I have in front of me on my desk another $600 that just came in," Holt said. "One letter has a note that says, 'To those who say how could you?, I say how could you not?'"
Meanwhile, the owner of a cruise ship that rescued 11 crewmen from the disabled tanker received three cancellations and critical e-mail for leaving behind the dog, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The company issued a statement denying that the crew of the cruise ship Norwegian Star prevented the skipper of the tanker Insiko 1907 from taking his dog aboard the ship during the April 2 rescue.
"At no time during the rescue operation or immediately after the rescue did Insiko crew members inform the captain of Norwegian Star that a dog was onboard the cargo ship," the statement said. "Had the captain been aware, the dog would have been safely transported onto the Norwegian Star."
Holt said it's possible the tanker's captain didn't immediately tell the Norwegian Star crew about the dog.
"I don't doubt that the captain of the Norwegian Star is being truthful when he said he didn't know about the dog being on the tanker," she said.
Holt said the society had received well wishes and donations from as far away as Hong Kong, England and Australia. Very little mail received was critical, she said.
Part of the rescue was financed by the society's own money. A large portion came from The Humane Society of the United States, which is not affiliated with HHS, Holt said.
She said the American Marine Corp. search team's rescue tugboat, in conjunction with air support, surveyed 14,800 square miles ocean before concluding Sunday that the tanker, and the 40-pound dog, Forgea, had been lost at sea.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
