Maui Humane Society to Reopen Shelter

MHS Dog Kennels. PC: Maui Humane Society.

Maui Humane Society (MHS) representatives say they will be opening their shelter in a limited capacity, by appointment only.

The shelter has been closed to the public for ten weeks with staff working in teams on two-week rotations to ensure health and safely.

“While we’ve remained open for essential services for animals throughout the pandemic, we did have to adapt certain areas of our operations and we’re excited to restart some of those services
now,” said Maui Humane Society CEO Steve MacKinnon.

Shelter staff initially anticipated a surge in animal surrenders due to COVID’s impact and called on the
community to open their homes as foster families. The response was heartwarming with 70 animals
placed into foster care in less than two weeks and an additional 73 in the weeks following. Despite the
closure, animals still needed to find new homes, a process complicated by the necessity for face-to-face interaction.

Staff quickly converted the entire adoption process to an online platform whereby potential adopters scheduled virtual meetings with animals and adoption paperwork was completed with the click of a button.

“Our top priority remains the safety of our staff, volunteers and guests so we’ll continue to require face
masks, social distancing and hand sanitization following the guidelines set up by the County and State,” said MacKinnon. Maui Humane Society Veterinary Staff are starting the processes necessary to resume spay/neuter surgeries in accordance with National Animal Care & Control Association guidelines and expect to offer regular surgery services in July.

The shelter remains closed for general animal viewing and the public are reminded that they must have an appointment and wear a mask to enter. Appointments are required to surrender an animal, drop off a found/stray animal, reclaim an animal, pick up an adopted animal, drop off for cremation or for surgery.

Humane Enforcement Officers have resumed normal operations but are unable to enter homes
for COVID safety reasons. Appointments can be made by calling 877-3680 ext. 3 between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., 7 days a week.