04/24/2025
An effort to make your City parks friendlier for responsible dog kahu and their canine ‘ohana is launching this week, and now the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is asking for your feedback.
Currently, there are 308 City park locations around O‘ahu but only 36 allow leashed dogs, and just 10 have off-leash areas. That means over 85% of our parks don't legally allow dogs for recreation. This lack of availability is particularly noticeable in our island’s rural communities along the Leeward, Windward, and Northern shores. You can see this for yourself, by visiting our online map showing where these dog parks are located: bit.ly/OahuParkMap
Recognizing the import role domesticated pets play in the lives of countless park users, and the many benefits of establishing a human-animal bond, DPR is proposing a comprehensive change to parks island-wide by allowing leashed animals in more City parks.
Current park rules allow the DPR Director “to designate areas in public parks for use by persons having custody and control of dogs on a leash and to designate public parks for use as off-leash parks for dogs.” However, we want your input before these decisions are made. On Monday, letters were sent to each of O‘ahu’s Neighborhood Boards requesting their assistance to determine which parks, or park areas, should formally allow leashed dogs. To help facilitate this discussion, an interactive, digital map showing neighborhood boundaries, and which parks already have dog privileges, was provided. That map can be accessed online by visiting: bit.ly/dogneighborhoods
“We firmly believe the current rules regarding pets in City parks are too restrictive and should be changed, but we want to be respectful of the various needs of our community members,” said Nate Serota, DPR spokesman and lead for this effort. “With this in mind, we are empowering you to let us know where these dog-friendly privileges should be extended, decriminalizing an activity that should be encouraged in these open, public spaces. We strongly encourage you to take part in this process, with DPR requesting formal input from each of the Neighborhood Boards before September 2025.”
Similarly, DPR understands and take seriously the concerns of residents regarding dangerous dogs and irresponsible pet kahu who do not cleanup after their pets. In this regard DPR highlights two separate efforts to address these valid concerns.
During the 2024 Legislative Session, the State passed and signed into law Act 224 which takes effect July 1, 2025. This statute defines a dangerous dog and establishes requirements / penalties for owners of dangerous dogs. It creates the offense of negligent failure to control a dangerous dog, codifies a felony penalty for a bite incident that maims or kills a human being, and stipulates rules regarding the impoundment of dangerous dogs.
DPR is also pursuing efforts to install and maintain dog p**p bag dispensers at select City parks, along with adding park signage to further encourage pet kahu to clean up after their animals. These dispensers are already available in select areas of Waikīkī, thanks to support from the Waikīkī Business Improvement District, and have observationally shown to reduce the amount of errant dog f***s.
“With the growing variety of ways our parks are used, and the increasing need for recreational space across the island, we want to do our best to balance these diverse interests as we extend on-leash dog privileges,” said DPR Director Laura H. Thielen. “Even providing a small area within a larger park for leashed dogs can make a significant difference to the growing population of dog guardians. We hope these discussions, and extending dog privileges, leads to a variety of social benefits, such as relieving our police department from responding to dog complaints, activating under-utilized park spaces, and a broader cohesion and respect amongst the community.”
Currently, Ala Moana Regional Park and the Honolulu Botanical Gardens are not being considered for this effort because of their popularity and existing emphasis on dog restrictions. However, DPR intends to engage in additional conversations to accommodate dog kahu at these locations at another time.
People for Animals. Animals for People. Established in 1883, this non-profit organization is not a chapter of any group as there is no national humane society.
