Whiskey the distillery cat fights for life after Kapaa Quarry shooting
Whiskey, Koolau Distillery’s mascot cat, was shot in Kapaa Quarry and now needs a feeding tube as another cat death there is under felony investigation.
Whiskey, the mascot and social media star of Koolau Distillery, was fighting for his life after a pellet or bullet tore through his face at Kapaa Quarry. Justin Rivera, the distillery’s general manager, said the shot passed through Whiskey’s nose, roof of the mouth and tongue before lodging in his chest. Another neighborhood cat, Ginny, was shot, critically injured and later died, deepening concern that the quarry area has become a repeated site of animal cruelty.
Rivera said Whiskey had not eaten since the attack and needed a feeding tube to survive. The Hawaiian Humane Society said Ginny’s death was rising to the level of a felony investigation and urged anyone with information to file a police report, even anonymously, or call 808-356-2250. That warning lands hard in a mixed commercial area like Kapaa Quarry, where employees, customers and nearby residents have come to know the distillery cat as part of the place itself.
The concern is bigger than one wounded animal. A separate Kapaa cat-shooting case in 2025 involved Quanta, who was shot near Kapaa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, found unable to stand and later taken to Kapaa Animal Clinic after X-rays reportedly showed a pellet wound near her spine. In that case, Kauai Juice Co. manager Tamara Inman offered a $500 reward for information, while Kitty Cat News Kauai co-founder Michelle Miller pointed to a mix of lack of education, weak enforcement and cat overpopulation.
The island-wide backdrop makes the Kapaa cases more troubling. KITV has reported that Kauai has a large feral cat problem stretching from shoreline to interior and into the highest mountains, and a 2018 Garden Island report said there were more than 3,000 urban feral cats on the island at that time. With bills aimed at reducing free-roaming cat overpopulation moving through the Hawaii Legislature and the Kauai Humane Society backing sterilization efforts to ease shelter overcrowding, Whiskey’s injuries have become another test of whether authorities, neighbors and businesses can break a pattern before another cat is shot.
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