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Students, faculty, and staff would be barred from bringing their pets onto campus or “feeding animals near outside dining facilities or other areas on campus where feeding may result in a potential health hazard, a public nuisance or property damage,” under a revised campus policy being proposed by Kathleen Cutshaw, Vice-Chancellor for Administration, Finance and Operations.

The proposed policy was distributed to campus administrators in a Valentine’s Day email.

The policy doesn’t pass the “truth in labeling” test. It is referred to as the “Animals on campus” policy, but is really a “No animals on campus” policy.

Exceptions to the proposed ban are animals kept as research subjects, service animals, and animals in residences on UH property, a likely reference to faculty housing.

The policy appears to be another attempt to restrict or prohibit the feeding and servicing of several feral cat colonies on campus which has been done as part of a “trap-neuter-return” approach to humanely controlling the population of feral cats supported by the Hawaiian Humane Society. Similar anti-animal policies have been proposed several times in the past but have been withdrawn following intense opposition from animal rights activists and those who devote their time and money to caring for the campus cats.

The current proposal would also eliminate those occasional campus scenes of students or faculty playing with their dogs in the late afternoon or on weekends.

A story last year in Ka Leo, the Manoa campus newspaper, described the cat colonies as “a UH community mainstay”.

David Karl, an oceanography professor, feeds the cats regularly on campus.

“If nobody fed them, they would be in the garbage cans, they would be over at Paradise Palms. … They would be a huge problem,” Karl said. “And if UH could exterminate all these cats, there would be rats all over the place.”

A 2005 Ka Leo editorial provided more information about the feral cat program.

The Hawai’i Cat Foundation, in conjunction with the Humane Society, provided the answer. Its Trap-Neuter-Return feral cat management program works to reduce numbers without harming the cats. The program depends on volunteers to trap any stray cats that they, find take them to the Humane Society, where the cats are examined and spayed or neutered, and a microchip is implanted under the skin to provide permanent identification. The volunteers then agree to release the cats and provide food and care for them. Since the program began, over 90 percent of the cat population living at UHM has the characteristic notch on one ear that shows they are sterilized. Thanks to the efforts of volunteers all over campus, the cats are being fed and sick cats are being treated.

The benefit of this program to UHM is enormous. Well-fed cats are less likely to dig through trash and become a problem. The other benefit of feeding the cats is that it allows the volunteer looking after the cats to identify and capture any that look sick or hurt so they can receive treatment. This keeps the cat population healthy and lowers the risk of disease.

Volunteers here on campus come as early as five in the morning to feed and care for the cats. These are people who love their animals, know their names and ages, and give a large part of their lives to them.

At minimum, the proposed policy needs to be amended to specifically incorporate and support the “trap-release-return” program. Students may also object to such a sweeping ban on bringing pets onto UH property.

The proposed “policy” appears to constitutes a rule subject to the provisions of Chapter 91 HRS, the Hawaii Administrative Procedures Act, which has specific requirements for public notice and public comment before any rule can go into effect.

An email accompanying the proposed “No animal” policy asks for comments and suggestions to be addressed to Roy Takekawa, Director of the Environmental Health and Safety Office, the Responsible Office for this policy. He can be reached at Takekawa@hawaii.edu or by phone at 956-3200.