Quarantine changes go to public hearing

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Animal lovers and others will soon be able to testify on proposed animal quarantine rule changes, which include reducing the quarantine period to no more than five days.

Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday signed the proposed administrative rule changes, giving the state Board of Agriculture the go-ahead to hold public hearings. But Lingle said in a press release that she has a problem with the proposed fee structure, which is $505 for the five-day quarantine period.

"The proposed fees are too high," Lingle said. "In cases where pets must be quarantined, the state's goal should be to cover actual costs, rather than to make a profit."

The Board of Agriculture will schedule statewide public hearings on the proposed rule changes.

Sandra Lee Kunimoto, Board of Agriculture chairwoman, said she has directed her department to review the proposed fees and determine a fair fee structure for quarantine. She also said the department is examining further reducing the five-day confinement period.

Existing quarantine programs allows an animal to be confined for 30 days for a $655 fee, provided immunization and testing requirements are met. If those requirements are not met, the pet must serve the full 120-day quarantine period for $1,080.

Under the proposed rule changes, pet owners would have the option of confining their pets in quarantine for five days after two rabies vaccinations, a blood test and a minimum waiting period of 120 days before arrival in Hawai'i.

Kunimoto briefly discussed the proposed rules at yesterday's Senate hearing on a measure to exempt animals from quarantine when they have a microchip for identification, a current rabies vaccination, a health certificate and a blood test within the past year. Kunimoto said she would prefer that the changes be made through administrative rules rather than in the statute.

But many who attended the hearing before the Senate committees on Water, Land and Agriculture and Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations said even a five-day confinement period is too long. They said quarantine places an emotional and financial burden on pet owners and that vaccinations provide the state ample protection against rabies and other diseases.

"Please don't make another family endure the trauma of quarantine for even one day," Pam Smith told committee members after describing the burdens she endured when her dogs — both vaccinated against rabies — were quarantined in 1994.

But others, including those representing farmers, said a five-day period is necessary to ensure that animals entering the state have met safety requirements and that the bill would increase the risk of rabies being introduced to the state.

The two Senate Committees have deferred decision-making on Senate Bill 1175 until Feb. 28, an internal legislative deadline when bills must be approved before crossing over to the other house.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.