Animal lovers quick to respond to revised airport-entry rules

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

It's been raining cats and dogs at Honolulu International Airport, which has seen a 60 percent increase in pets entering the state in the five months after the easing of rabies quarantine rules allowed most animals to be released almost immediately.

"During the first five months of the program, 70 percent of the animals entering the state have been able to qualify for the five-days-or-less program, and most of those are being directly released at the airport," state Agriculture Director Sandra Lee Kunimoto told members of the House Agriculture Committee yesterday during an informational briefing.

From July 1 to Nov. 30, agricultural officials processed 2,929 animals that entered the state, Kunimoto said. By comparison, 4,600 dogs and cats were processed during the 12 months prior to that period, she said.

Under the modified rules, dog and cat owners have the option of bringing their pets into the state under a shortened quarantine if the pets, before arrival, receive rabies vaccinations, are equipped with electronic microchip identification and get a blood test to determine an acceptable rabies vaccination response.

The department's animal facility at the airport, previously staffed by Livestock Disease Control Branch personnel, has been much busier since the change in rules, Kunimoto said.