LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i Humane Society is offering a deal for off-island adoptions in an urgent effort to adopt out shelter animals.
KHS is offering an all-inclusive off-island adoption special of $150 to select West Coast airports for the first 125 animals adopted from the shelter. The normal cost for an off-island adoption is around $700-800.
The $150 includes the adoption cost of the animal (already fixed, microchipped, and vaccinated), rabies vaccines, health certificates, travel crate, and all transport costs.
The adopter will need to pick up the animal from the airport. Participating airports include Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland, and San Jose. KHS can adopt to other locations for an additional fee.
KHS can offer a two-for-one kitten special during this adoption event because two small kittens can share a travel kennel; however, KHS is hoping to get more dogs adopted because there are dogs who have been in the shelter for almost an entire year.
KHS currently has 61 dogs and 70 cats in its care, as well as 71 underage kittens in foster care who will soon be ready to go to the adoption floor and will need to await an open kennel.
“Animal shelters across the nation, including our rescue partners, are working with large dog populations and are unable to help us because they are full too,” Executive Director Nicole Crane said in a release. “We cannot continue to have dogs in the shelter for 100 days or longer. It is not fair to them. It is not good for their mental health. It is not good for our staff to see these once happy dogs stressing because the wait for their family has been too long.”
In August 2021, KHS facilitated a mass transfer flight which successfully transferred 201 animals to the Seattle area dubbed “Mission Mainland.”
Fundraising began this year with the intention of a “Mission Mainland 2.0” flight, but the increased cost of fuel made it infeasible to book an entire plane. KHS has decided to put the funds raised towards off-island adoptions instead, in an effort to adopt out animals because adoptions have significantly decreased on Kaua‘i.
“Adoptions on the island of Kaua‘i are slowing down, our dog population is constantly between being at capacity and over capacity, and we have so many animals that have been in the shelter for months upon months,” Crane said. “We have tried reduced adoption fees, waived adoption fees, free supplies with adoptions and still our population remains high. We needed to do something and as much as we would have loved to charter another plane like we did for the 2021 Mission Mainland, we could not afford to do so with inflation and high fuel costs. This is us adapting to our situation and looking at other avenues to save lives and build families.”
KHS is still offering on-island adoptions, and is hosting another adoption event May 20-22 sponsored by Best Friends Animal Society. All senior and adult animals will be free. In addition to this on-island adoption special, all animals who have been at the shelter for more than 100 days are also free if adopted on-island.
For both on-island and off-island adoptions, the adoption process is the same. Visit kauaihumane.org to view all adoptable animals. Adopters can either click the “apply for adoption” button under the animal’s photo or email customerservice@kauaihumane.org to begin the application process. Staff will reach out to the adopter from there.
Anyone who would like to support this mission, but are unable to adopt are asked to purchase travel crates from KHS’s Amazon Wishlist here or make a donation to the transfer program here.
Mission Mainland shirts can also be purchased as a way to donate to the transfer program.
This adoption special has been made possible by generous donors and supporters of KHS including “Destinations in Paradise” who have sponsored 25 off-island adoptions.
