Hawaiian Humane Society
Newsletter People for animals. Animals for people.
December 2019 – March 2020
Foster care volunteers help thousands Fostering a shelter animal is an incredible act of compassion and love. By opening up their homes, our foster families transform the lives of animals, giving them the chance to grow in self-esteem, feel the love of a family, and socialize with other pets and children. They help prepare the pet for eventual adoption, often replacing shyness, fear or skittishness, with self-confidence. Foster families are critical to our mission and heroes to those of us who work in animal welfare. Here we profile five of our rock star foster volunteers:
also fostered seven dogs (several who were nursing mothers), and six kittens. A stunning number of fosters in three years. They were first motivated to foster when in their work for the City and County they began doing rescues with Hawaiian Humane and saw so many animals in need of care. While Tish and Nate take in many animals that need special care, they say it’s not a hardship. Tish explains, that for puppies that are recovering from ringworm, “It takes no more time than regular fosters. We aren’t scared of ringworm. The real reward is seeing them recover and go on to find loving homes.” Tish and Nate love all the pets they have fostered and keep photo albums of every one of them. They have even come to the Hawaiian Humane Society on adoption day and watched their little puppies find their new families.
Small Animals Expert – Monica Kawamoto Monica began fostering small animals and especially guinea pigs several years ago when both of her own adopted guinea pigs passed away within a couple months of each other. She wanted to continue to care for small animals, but she wasn’t yet ready to adopt again. She’s since fostered over 12 guinea pigs and rabbits. Her favorites are sibling foster babies who she describes as "popcorn" as they bounce around and play with each other. While letting go of them for adoption can be difficult sometimes, her love for these little creatures, and her desire to see them find new loving families, keeps her motivated. Puppy Experts – Tish & Nate Oshima Tish and Nate began fostering in 2016 and have since fostered 64 puppies, including many that were too young for spay/ neuter or that had skin issues such as ringworm. They have
The Kitten Specialists – Stephanie & Alex Kendrick Stephanie is the Hawaiian Humane Society’s Policy Advocate. She and her husband Alex have fostered dozens of kittens. She explains that’s she’s motivated by the delight of seeing continued on page 4