Action Request

A good deal of community networking is going on right now. This is SUPER GOOD NEWS!

We are asking YOU to contact Board members and voice your concern. Ask that plans to capture and turn animals over to the DLNR be suspended until there is a full and complete effort made to prevent harm to the donkeys. You'll find emails and phones for  members of the WVA Board at  WVA Board Contacts 

Please, when contacting the WVA, remember Board members are community leaders and volunteers who work hard and have good intentions.

MAHALO TO ALL who have contacted us with their concerns and efforts on behalf of the donkeys. The immediate focus needs to be on having the Waikoloa Village Association halt plans to catch and turn over donkeys to  State DLNR Wildlife Management.

Meanwhile, Malama Waikoloa Nightingales is working to make contact with someone at DLNR Wildlife Management to learn what they have been planning, as we do not know. The public has a right and a need to know and we will find out.

Long Term Donkey Population Management

We've had discussions here locally with two representatives of the US Humane Society (at a national level, not local.) One was their national Urban Wildlife Director. With the USHS we are exploring long term, humane methods of curtailing the growth of herds so it does not exceed the shrinking amount of grazing land available to them.

The details are complex and the costs high, but there is some possibility of getting something done to try to dramatically slow the growth of the herds. It is a long term project of major proportions.

Meanwhile, the USHS has recommended that after donkeys are lured to the corral by gentle means, the males be gelded before being released. (Previously, when donkeys were removed from the Hualalai resort area and moved to Waikoloa, they were not gelded.)

All of this has also been discussed with a large-animal vet here on the Island, so someone who is knowledgeable about equine matters is providing lots of expertise. 

I'll revisit this subject in a future post.