The Hawaii County Council approved a resolution earlier this month accepting a donation of equipment worth $144,595 for the county’s Animal Control and Protection Agency.
Resolution 607-24 passed by a unanimous 9-0 vote at the Sept. 4 meeting of the full council.
The equipment, according to an Aug. 14 letter from Finance Director Diane Nakagawa to Council Chairwoman Heather Kimball, was donated to the county by the Hawaii Island Humane Society, Hawaii Rainbow Rangers and Bar-King Dog Kennels.
“This includes everything from kennels to cages to traps to vehicles that were already in inventory,” Matthew Runnells, Animal Control and Protection Agency administrator, said Wednesday. “And computers. Everything that was basically handed down from one organization to the other and, eventually, ended up in our hands.”
The Hawaii Island Humane Society and Hawaii Rainbow Rangers were organizations contracted by the Hawaii Police Department to perform animal control duties islandwide until 2021. HPD assumed responsibility over animal control services in July 2021 after the county terminated its contract with Hawaii Rainbow Rangers.
The Rangers took over animal control services after long-time contract holder Hawaii Island Humane Society declined to bid in 2020.
Asked if the donated items were still useful, Runnells replied, “Some of them still are.”
“Some of computers had to be trashed because they … didn’t have the county’s security system on it. Some of the vehicles are so old — two decades or more — that as soon as we get our replacement vehicles, which are coming in December, they’re going to be sent to the scrap heap.
“They’re functional for now, but some of them have over 300,000 miles on them.”
Runnells said Animal Control and Protection will have six new vehicles by the end of the year.
According to Runnells, there were also pressure-washers from Bar-King Kennels and two large freezers he said are “close to a thousand bucks apiece” in value that are used to store the bodies of deceased animals until they can be properly disposed of.