Department of Agriculture

Animal Quarantine Refund Applications Available

Honolulu – The Governor has signed the rules that allow owners of dogs and cats that entered quarantined in Hawaii during the period of July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001 to receive a partial refund of quarantine fees. Regular fees are $1,080 for the standard 120-day quarantine and $655 for pets that qualify for the 30-day quarantine. The fee reduction would be $120 for dogs and cats belonging to civilians and active duty military grades E-7 to O-3 and $220 for active duty military grades E-1 to E-6. No fee reduction will be given to active duty military officers above grade O-3. The sliding scale reductions for military personnel were requested by CINCPAC to provide more assistance to lower ranking personnel.

Refund applications are now available on the Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s website at: /hdoa/ai/aqs/info or by calling the Animal Quarantine Station at 483-7151 or by requesting by fax at (808)483-7161. Processing of the application and refund is expected to take four to six weeks. Reductions do not apply to pets that were in transit and did not complete the quarantine program, pets born in quarantine, and pets that did not enter quarantine during the specified period. The refund amount will be adjusted by any outstanding balances, not to exceed the amount paid to the State.

The fee reductions were mandated last year by the state legislature, which appropriated $500,000 to provide temporary fee subsidies for military personnel until federal legislation would provide subsidies through the U.S. Department of Defense. Public hearings on the matter were held statewide in February 2001 and the proposal was approved unanimously by the Board in March 2001. Each year, about 4,100 dogs and cats go through either the 30-day or 120-day quarantine.

Hawaii has strict quarantine laws to prevent the introduction of rabies into the state. All dogs and cats entering the state must complete quarantine unless they are arriving from rabies-free areas such as Australia, New Zealand and the British Isles. Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. that is rabies free.

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