State to lease out Halawa space
By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer
The state is poised to lease out a sizable portion of its quarantine facility in Halawa Valley because nearly 90 percent of all pets now entering Hawai'i get to go home directly from the airport.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
That leaves a lot of vacant kennels. The Animal Quarantine Facility in Halawa Valley had 1,600 kennels, of which about 900 are still usable and in good condition. On a weekly basis, only about 260 are now used for animals in 120-day or 30-day quarantine, and about 70 kennels are leased to the federal government.
Dawn Turner, operations supervisor at the state Agriculture Department's Animal Quarantine Station in Halawa Valley, walks among the older and unused kennels that sit empty now that pets can be brought into Hawai'i without mandatory quarantine.
The vacancies result from the introduction of the popular five-day-or-less rabies quarantine program in June 2003.
The decrease in pets coming in to the facility has forced the state Department of Agriculture, which runs the quarantine program, to shift employees to other departments or state agencies. In addition, the department is in talks with nonprofit corporations to lease about six acres of mostly vacant land on the mauka-'ewa end of the facility.
Four companies dedicated to agriculture, quarantine or animal welfare have submitted their proposals and the Board of Agriculture must approve one, said Janelle Saneishi, state Department of Agriculture public information officer.
The department did not say how much in revenues it hopes to raise from the proposals. The names of the nonprofit companies submitting the proposals were not released by the Agriculture Department.
No date for a board vote has been set, Saneishi said. The governor still must sign a bill that would enable the use of the land for this purpose and give the revenues raised back to the quarantine facility, she said.
"We're looking to increase our revenues," Saneishi said. "Rather than increase the cost to pet owners, we're looking to find nonprofit companies interested in subleasing a portion of the property."
From July 2004 through April, there were 6,273 animals entering the state, of which 87 percent were released to their owners at the airport through the five-day-or-less program.
Only 501 animals had to go in for the 120-day quarantine, according to statistics prepared by the state Department of Agriculture.
The rabies quarantine began in 1912 when the disease was declared endemic in California and it was feared that carnivorous animals imported from that state could transmit the disease to Hawai'i.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
The program began as a 120-day quarantine, and a 30-day quarantine alternate program was approved in 1997. A five-day-or-less quarantine went into effect June 30, 2003.
Dawn Turner, operations supervisor at the Halawa quarantine station, visits with chihuahua puppies in a kennel. Unlike 90 percent of pets arriving at the airport, the puppies were required to undergo quarantine.
The only exceptions made to the quarantine rules are for animals originating from other rabies-free areas such as the British Isles, Australia, Guam and New Zealand.
Since Toni Mendenhall's two dogs didn't come from any of these areas, she was concerned about meeting the state's strict requirements when she moved back to Hawai'i from Japan.
The Kaimuki resident, who had brought in dogs under the old 120-day requirements, was happy that her two Shih Tzus could come home with her right from the airport.
"It was painless," Mendenhall said. "We were able to pick up Oreo and Maxie right from the airport and take them home and they've been home ever since."
Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.
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Owners have four ways to bring pets to Hawai'i. In all cases, a pet must be monitored for 120 days for signs of rabies. 1. Hawai'i animals in direct-release program, $165 per pet. Pets can be released at the airport immediately after inspection and review of all paperwork, including blood test results. Subsequent trips for Hawai'i animals within 18-month period, $78 2. Five-day-or-less program, $224: For pets whose owners didn't submit paperwork at least 10 days before arrival or for pets that show signs of external parasites, such as fleas or ticks. 3. 30-day program, $655: For pets that have completed a 90-day wait between the time a blood test is done and their arrival, but still have 30 days to go to meet the 120-day requirement. 4. 120-day program, $1,080: For pets that have not had two rabies vaccinations, the microchip implanted and a blood serum rabies test. Pets that do not qualify for the five-day-or-less program must submit to the 30-day and the 120-day quarantine programs. Those that do may be released at Honolulu International Airport if they complete pre-arrival requirements that include: • Two rabies vaccinations, with the last vaccination no more than 12 months prior to arrival if it is a one-year vaccine, or no more than 18 months prior if it is a three-year vaccine. • Microchip implantation for identification. • Blood serum (OIE-FAVN) rabies test results with a less than 0.5 u/mil level of rabies antibodies. • 120-day pre-arrival waiting period between the time the lab receives the blood sample and the earliest date the pet may enter the state. • Necessary paperwork submitted to the state more than 10 days prior to the pet's arrival. For more information on the state's quarantine program for pets go to www.hawaiiag.org/hdoa/ai_aqs_info.htm or call the Halawa quarantine facility at 483-7151. Source: state Department of Agriculture
4 ways to bring a pet into Hawai'i
