From Pam Burns on Health

2700 Waialae Avenue Honolulu, Hawaii 96826 808.946.2187 • hawaiianhumane.org

May 21, 2012

Board of Directors

Dear Friends,

Francie Boland Chair

Shelley B. Thompson Vice Chair

Ernest H. Fukeda, Jr.

In January, I wrote to you about our experience with puppy mills in Hawaii and hope you found it informative.

Treasurer

What inspires me to reach out to you again is how deeply the humananimal bond has touched my life and that of the mission of the Hawaiian Humane Society.

Joyce Tomonari Secretary

Pamela Burns President/CEO

Eric Ako, DVM Robert R. Bean Sharon Shiroma Brown Gerri Cadiz Bruce A. Coppa

I can recall when my first pet passed on. I was just 8 years old. I recognized the bond that I shared with my dog, Spooky, transcended time. The lessons these creatures teach us about unconditional love, loyalty, trust and joy in their simplest and purest forms have helped me to become a more compassionate person.

Nicholas C. Dreher Pamela Jones Lynn Y. Lally Naomi Loewe Stephen B. Metter Norman M. Noguchi Pauline M. Osborne Mark Polivka

Throughout history, so many great leaders have recognized animals as a catalyst to a more compassionate community. Florence Nightingale’s earliest documented attempts at nursing were for animals, injured or abandoned. She later translated that compassion to people in need, and wherever there was sorrow or suffering she was there. Few people know she also recognized that animals provided a level of social support in the institutional care of the mentally ill.

Lawrence D. Rodriguez Ginny Tiu Virginia S. Weinman Mary H. Weyand Rick Zwern

The Humane Society cares as deeply for people as animals. We were founded to help people – and we still do. That’s why we’ve adopted People for Animals, Animals for People as our organization’s tagline that embodies what we stand for.

Those of us who share our lives with pets know they bring out the best in us and a growing body of scientific research now proves that animal companionship can also make us healthier.

The Hawaiian Humane Society is dedicated to promoting the human-animal bond and the humane treatment of all animals.

Intuitively we know the bond has benefits. That’s why pet ownership on Oahu has increased to more than 60 percent of homes and dog ownership has doubled in the last 20 years.

While we received 30,000 animals last year, this is a significant reduction from 1978 when 45,000 dogs and cats arrived. That tells us that despite a rising human and pet population, the bond is strengthening in our communities.

It was only in the late 1970s that researchers began to explore and recognize the science of the human-animal bond. One needs to look no further than the increasing use of animals in institutional settings from hospitals and nursing homes to schools and mental health centers.

Nearly 30 years ago, in June 1983, we started our pet visitation program to bring the joy of animal companionship to the ill and disabled. By 1990, 8,000 island residents benefited from this program annually. Today, more than 90 volunteers visit 64 facilities providing more than just cuddly companionship. The furry and four-legged trot through hospital hallways doling out medicine with a wag of the tail and a cold nose, which has been scientifically proven to reduce anxiety, renew self-esteem and lower blood pressure. Hope and joy heal. This benefit is not only for patients but the many doctors and nurses that we work with who assert that our program enhances productivity and joy in their workplace.

One of the earliest studies, published in 1980, found that heart attack patients who owned pets lived longer than those who didn’t have a pet. Another early study found that petting a dog could reduce blood pressure.

More recently, the Research Center for Human/Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine has been focusing on the fact that interacting with animals can increase a person’s level of the hormone oxytocin, which elevates feelings of happiness and trust. It also inspires the body’s ability to be in a state of readiness to heal and to grow new cells, so it predisposes us to an environment in our own bodies where we can be healthier.

Another University of Missouri project focused on the value of dog-walking by studying volunteers who walk dogs at animal shelters. These programs have clearly helped people get healthier and increase exercise. It further turns out the program was also helping the dogs. What that study found was that dogs were significantly more likely to be adopted

thanks to the additional exercise and socialization. That’s why our volunteers walk our dogs awaiting adoption twice a day.

Such studies have mobilized organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, which recently created a federal research program to study human-animal interaction – offering scientists research grants to study the impact of animals on child development, in physical and psychological therapeutic treatments, and on the effects of animals on public health, including their ability to reduce or prevent disease.

Our staff shares this same conviction about synergy between humans and animals. I am inspired by their enthusiastic embrace of the Hawaiian Humane Society’s role in service to people and animals. Each department is composed of committed people who stand as guardians and facilitators of the human-animal bond. Our admissions team welcomes people and animals at a critical juncture. Our adoptions counselors facilitate the lifechanging moment when an orphan animal becomes a family member. Our education and outreach programs aim to make the human-animal bond stronger through prevention, intervention and community support.

It is my greatest hope that you will continue to join me in this life-long service to the human-animal bond.

Sincerely,

Pamela Burns President & CEO Established in 1883, the Humane Society is a local, independent nonprofit and is not affiliated with ASPCA or HSUS or any other animal welfare organization. In my next letter, I will be sharing with you our wonderful education programs.