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Kalaʻi Miller: Aloha and welcome to Home is Here, I’m Kalaʻi Miller. The Honolulu Zoo is home to hundreds of exotic animals. But in one section of the zoo, the animals are a bit
different. In the Keiki Zoo you won’t find any lions or tigers, but each of the animals is unique and in this episode we find out what it takes to care of them. Bethany Sylvester: Hi,
my name is Bethany Sylvester. I'm a zookeeper here at the Honolulu Zoo and I work primarily in the Keiki Zoo. (Instrumental music) The Keiki Zoo is actually a really unique
experience. To me, it's almost like you're walking into an entire exhibit. So you get kind of a little bit more up close and personal with the animals. So today, you guys are
going to follow along with me and kind of see what I do on a day to day basis feeding, taking care of them, show them a few behaviors that a lot of my animals are trained to do. So this
is Lani Moo. She is our dairy cow. She came from Big Island. She is a Jersey cow which is a type of dairy cow. She’s our first Jersey that we’ve had. Normally we have Holsteins. So
for her breakfast, lunch, and dinner she usually gets timothy hay and alfalfa cubes. She probably gets about, I wanna say 15 pounds of hay a day. She is 850 pounds and they can get
anywhere between 800 to a thousand pounds. So she's probably got a little bit more to grow. So this is Sonny he's our male zebu. And Diamond is our female zebu. They are a
tropical cattle from Southeast Asia. Typically, the miniature zebu should be closer to Diamond's size. She's around 500 pounds. Sonny is just an extra large zebu. He kind of
had a growth spurt growing up and he's a little bit closer to 900 pounds. So Sonny’s really good at target (good). He's good at letting me look at his ears. Checking in his
eyes. Eyes, ears, good. And I always want to give them a reward for participating in this. There's definitely days, if they're not in the mood to do any sort of training, I
just, just stick to feeding but usually they're pretty good at participating. This is Hoku our mini horse. He’s the oldest member of the squad, as I like to say, he’s 32. He's
been at the zoo since 1998, he was born in 1991 so pretty much almost his whole entire life he's been here. He is considered a miniature horse, but he's got a little bit of
Shetland pony in him as well. It's, it's fun to see their individual personalities within the herd and kind of see who's the boss when. But he, despite his size he
definitely holds his own, I’d say. So these are probably one of the newest additions to the Keiki Zoo. It’s four American mini pigs. They’re all brothers. And they came from a farm on
the west side. They're all named after bubble gum, so the smallest one is Big Red. This is Hubba and Bubba. And then this is Winter for winter fresh, because he's got one blue
eye, his left eye is blue. My first thing I did with them was crate train them super important as far as feeding and if we needed to transport them anywhere. And then the rest of the
behaviors have been sort of just fun to kind of get their minds working and focused on something so Hubba and Bubba both know how to sit, as you can see. And then I reward them with a
little pig treat. All of them know how to spin. But like I said, they're all individuals, so two of them spin one way and the other two spin the other way for whatever reason. (So
he spins this way, good. You spin that way, good. You spin that way, good. Spin, good. And pigs are just naturally really smart or smarter than dogs. So I try to do a bunch of
different things to kind of keep them busy, get their minds working. Since they came from a farm, they didn't really have a ton of interaction. They are sort of really afraid of
us at first so even just allowing us to pet them was a really big win. So now they're very friendly for the most part. Super food motivated. And they love scratches, Red loves
belly scratches.This is one of my favorite parts of the day because I get to kind of sit and just pet pigs for a little bit and them I get to talk to the public about them. Silkies are a
fancy breed of chicken. They get that name from their feathers. Obviously, they're pretty silky soft and a little different from your normal chicken feathers. They're
originally from Asia, but nowadays you can find them sort of all over the place. A lot of people love to have these guys as pets because they're kind of a more docile breed. So
they’re all named after Frozen characters I had to stick with a theme. So we've got Elsa, Sven, Kristoff, Anna. And then Honeymaren, she's from Frozen 2. I ran out of girl
names. But these guys are really fun. I love to do different sort of feeding enrichment for them. So this is one of our feeder toys, I'll put like corn or mealworms - he's
looking to see if there's anything in there—and then you close it and they have to kind of kick it around to let the stuff come out. I think because they're domestic animals,
people don't find them nearly as fascinating as the other animals, but I like to show people like these animals are smart and they can figure stuff out. (Hi, hey, hi, hello!) So
this is Dusty and then the fuzzy one is Eyeore. So they’re both from Big Island. They were wild so they've come a long way, especially Eeyore. I think what makes donkeys one of my
favorite is they're misunderstood I feel like a lot of people think they're stubborn, but you kind of just have to be able to read them a little differently. The hardest
question ever is what is your favorite animal? To me, I think each one holds a special place in my heart. I will say - just don't tell the other ones. Eeyore the donkey has kind
of taught me a lot throughout my career, taught me patience and he's been really rewarding to kind of make a difference in his life every day. It's really fun working with
animals in the Keiki Zoo, because each one has their own individual personality from Sunny the big, gentle giant zebu to Diamond slightly smaller, but has a little bit more of an
attitude. Watching Lani Moo, kind of bring in some young energy and keeping the other guys on their toes. It's just fun to learn each animal's individual personality and kind
of base my training around that. Ever since I was young, I knew I wanted to work with animals in some capacity. It’s just been really a different path, that wasn’t even on my radar to
become a zookeeper. And now I can't imagine doing anything else. It’s been amazing to just to kind of see the differences that I've made and these each individual animals
lives and it's something that I will never forget. Kala’i Miller: Feral cats are a statewide issue but a nonprofit organization on Lanaʻi is leading the way in addressing the
challenge. The Lanai Cat sanctuary offers a safe haven for hundreds of homeless cats while actively working to protect the island’s vulnerable native birds. Keoni Vaughn: When I was
invited to Lanai to see if I'd be interested in helping out the Lanai Cat Sanctuary I was given a tour down at Hulupoi Bay, in an area called Pu’u Pehe. Some people know it as
sweetheart rock, and on that trail out to the point there's hundreds of these burrows where these shearwaters are ground nesting during certain parts of the year. And I just
thought that this was a huge buffet for cats, and so that's what inspired me to come work at the Lanai Cat Sanctuary to protect certain areas where these birds are ground nesting
by relocating these cats, providing them essentially their purradise for life, right? And a safe sanctuary for cats and a safe sanctuary for birds. And so that's what really
compelled me to come here. My name is Keoni Vaughan, I'm the executive director for the Lanai Cat Sanctuary. We're the only animal rescue organization on the island of Lanaʻi,
and we have, we house about 800 feral and homeless cats. So the sanctuary began 2007 where our founder, Kathy Carroll, moved from Illinois to Lanai, and there was a sick kitten that
kind of stumbled across her doorstep. So she quickly learned there was no veterinarian living on Lanaʻi for many, many years, and she'd have to take the cat to Maui. That
conversation quickly evolved where Kathy said, you know, I wish somebody would do something about the cats on the island. And the veterinarian said, well why not you? And so she looked
in the mirror and she said, Why not me? And that's where it really started. So the Lanai Cat Sanctuary is located on four acres of land about a quarter mile away from the airport.
And all the enclosures are outdoor enclosures. They're enclosed by cat proof fencing, so the cats aren't able to get out. We have some isolated areas for different reasons.
We have a kupuna center for our elderly cats, where they can live out the rest of their life in a more quieter area. It gives our staff an opportunity to pay close attention to them.
We have larger enclosures, like this one. This one is 30,000 square feet, so about half the size of a football field, and this is home to about 400 out of our 800 cats. We have another
area called the TLC area, where cats that are undergoing medical treatment or observation, it's a smaller, 2000 square foot enclosure, and it's just an easier way for our our
staff, to keep an eye on these cats. We provide really high quality care for our cats and adhere to as many high standards as possible within the animal welfare community. So we fly in
a veterinary team. It usually consists of a veterinarian and two technicians, almost weekly now to the sanctuary. And they provide all kinds of services ranging from, you know, your
basic spay neutering, to your eye inoculations to anything that the cats need. We have a full fledged surgery suite here, and so we use that whenever needed. As the only animal welfare
group, the only rescue animal rescue group on the island. There's no humane society, there's no SPCA, there's a dog warden on the island, but there's nothing here
for cats, and so our position is a little different than most rescue groups. Here on Lanaʻi, we feel that it's our duty to save all these homeless cats as much as we can while
protecting the native birds, and the way we do that is by partnering with the conservation group. So they go and they focus all their attention in these really sensitive bird areas,
and they trap the cats humanely, and rather than euthanizing the cats, they bring them to us, and this is where they’re, they're welcome to stay for their entire life, or until
they find a home. And these are cats that have never seen a human until our intervention, until they're brought into the Cat Sanctuary. So they're completely feral, completely
wild, don't want anything to do with us, but through the luxury of space and time at our sanctuary, we found about 40% of them become friendly and adoptable. Obviously, when you
come to visit us, you're typically on vacation, so you can't take a cat home with you, but what we do is, if you do happen to fall in love with one of our cats, we try to
have a really thoughtful conversation and make sure that you know the people that are interested in adopting are knowing that this is a lifelong decision. But once the human and animal
bond has been made with a specific cat, as long as they know it's a lifetime decision, we go ahead and arrange all the transportation later, which is a big deal to to adopt out a
cat from us. So in order for a cat to be adopted, we have to fly in a veterinarian within 10 days of the flight, so the veterinarian can make sure that gets a health certificate. Then
our staff member actually takes the cat on a ferry from Lanai to Maui, and then takes the cat to the airport the next day, and we'll send the cat to wherever the people are
living. So it's quite the process, but we honestly will do anything it takes to find the cat a home, because we much rather our friendly and adoptable cats be on someone's lap
in their home than living the life here at the sanctuary. And while it's a great place to live for cats, adopting out one cat allows for another cat to come in. After the Lahaina
fires that there were a couple hundred cats that were semi social but not adoptable, left in the burn zone. So we reached out to Maui Humane Society and offered our help. We're
the only Cat Sanctuary in the state of Hawaiʻi that has the ability to help, and we felt, because it was our sister Island and within the same county, it was our duty to do so. And so
our deal with Maui Humane Society is that we are going to take in the 200 cats from Lahaina, the burn zone, and in exchange, we're going to give Maui Humane Society 200 of our
adoptable cats, and they're going to find homes for them, likely in the Pacific Northwest where they have adoption partners. The Lanai Cat Sanctuary is a complete independent
nonprofit. We are not affiliated with any other organization, humane society or SPCA, so we have to raise our money here. Pre COVID we had about 16,000 visitors coming from around the
world just to Lanaʻi, to visit the Cat Sanctuary. And so a large part of our donations, in fact, about 95% of our donations, come from off Island visitors. In addition, just this fiscal
year, we received a grant from the Maui County it was our first time receiving a grant. So basically, most of our donations are coming from our visitors. We are located on an island
with only 3000 people, one gas station and no traffic lights. So getting resources to the island, it can be a little challenging, but it's also more expensive than most, right?
Most of the supplies come through Honolulu, they put on a weekly barge and brought in here and so we want to make sure that, you know, we have all the supplies needed caring for these
cats. We also go through about 100 pounds of cat food every single day. So one of the things I think the Lanai Cat Sanctuary is really proud of, is really trying its best to bridge the
gap between cat enthusiasts and conservation. The humans introduced the cats, right? The native birds were here first. And if there was any place in the in in the state of Hawaiʻi
that we could actually make a difference, it would be Lanaʻi. It's a very small human population. We offer free spay neutering. We're the only animal rescue you know on the
island, and so we work closely with conservation to try to always provide them an avenue, a positive outcome for the cats that they're trapping in these areas, to bring them into
a safe haven where the cats can be protected, right, and fed, watered and taken care of, and that really allows the the native and endangered birds to live out their life peacefully
without the cats threatening them. If you're a cat enthusiast, or even if you're a bird enthusiast, I would love you folks, anyone to come out here, take a day trip, come out
to the Lanaʻi. It's a beautiful island. There's a lot of rich culture here, but also to come to our cat sanctuary. And we're not saying that we're the solution.
We're just a tool in the war chest on trying to protect both species, and it's a very unique approach. And I think you'll be shocked. It's really hard to describe
what it's like with 800 cats. Most people think 800 cats. It must smell like 800 cats and feel like 800 cats. And quite honestly, that's our biggest compliment it doesn't.
When you come out here, we find people that actually come out here and take naps. It's a really a relaxing place. I get teased a lot for calling it the Fur Seasons for cats,
because they're not dying to get out once they're in here, they know that it's a great place to stay. So as far as future plans, you know, the Lanai Cat Sanctuary is
really learning as we go. So we are planning on expanding the Cat Sanctuary. We are currently working on building some other enclosures. With the influx of the cats from Lahaina, we
feel it's important to provide them with a little bit more space so we're expanding a little. 10 years ago, I started off with three staff, and about 10,000 square feet out
of the four acres that were here and about 350 cats and our operating budget back then was $100,000 a year. 10 years later, we have 18 staff granted most of them are part time and on
call, we only have about seven that are full time, but we have 800 cats. We have taken up most of the four acres as far as Cat enclosures. And our budget is $1.7 million a year. So I
think we're all headed in the right direction. We feel like we're making a difference here on Lanaʻi, there's areas where there hasn't been any bird deaths by a cat
in years, and so that's a really good sign for us. You go into town, when I first started, there were pretty much cats everywhere, just running in town, like most cities and most
towns. But now you go through Lanaʻi City and you don't see any free roaming cats, so we're just going to keep plugging away, and hopefully we work ourselves out of a job.
Kalaʻi Miller: Kailua artist Kenyatta Kelechi explores his connection to community, culture, and place through the 19th century technique of wet plate collodion photography. This
labor-intensive process requires careful preparation and presence, allowing him to work intentionally and build meaningful connections with the practitioners he photographs. Kenyatta
Kelechi: (One second exposure, so you guys gotta stay still for one second. Got it?) My name’s Kenyatta Kelechi and I’m from Kailua, Hawaiʻi. I got my first camera given to me from my
dad, and I was in ninth grade, and I took photography class, there was a dark room, and I kind of just didn't realize that I was going to be a photographer one day. I wasn’t
planning on being a photographer. I was originally, like, in like, pre engineering school or something like that. I was taking a lot of, like math and science classes, and then took
this darkroom photography class, possibly get an A, bring my GPA up, but it ended up being, like, really challenging and fun. The professor at the time, his name was Stan Toneda,
became like a mentor figure in a way. And he was always like really hard to impress. I would make a print. And even though I though it was the best print I ever made and proud and walk
it out on like a little food tray to him and he’s like, oh too dark. I was like oh! Gotta go back in the darkroom again. So it was fun because it was like a challenge. I enjoyed those
moments. When he retired I needed something to challenge me and that’s what led me into wet plate. I wanted something that had a lot of steps in it, a real process that you had to be
really involved in. The main chemical in wet plate collodion is collodion. Collodion is just ether and gun cotton. And its job is just to bind silver nitrate, which is light sensitive to
the plate. I pour it onto my plate. Then I’ll put it into this thing called the silver bath. And it sits in there for like three to five minutes. And while it's in there, in the
dark the plate’s becoming sensitized. So after that happens, every time I handle it, it has to be in my dark box away from direct light. Cuz it’s sens—it’s light sensitive now. And then
I take the picture and expose the plate. Then I put the plate into the dark box, and I develop it in there. And then after that, I rinse it outside and fix it. And the cool thing about
wet plate is I think it's the only process where you can see the negative flip to positive in daylight. So in pretty much every other photographic process, you have to do all that
in the dark room so you don't really see it the same way you do with wet plate. It’s like, really bright, you can see like all of the particles kind of like change. It’s almost
like magic. It looks really cool. It’s like, my favorite part, and seeing other people’s reactions when they see that, it kind of, it’s like the coolest part about wet plate. It took me
forever to really get wet play dialed in. he picture that kind of, like, put me on the path that I'm on now was a this portrait that I made in 2019 of this band called Puamana.
They’re from Kailua. And originally it was like, Auntie Irmgard and her two daughters, but now it's the two daughters and one of Auntie Irmgardʻs grandchildren. They’re really tied
to Kailua and I’m from Kailua. And it was like everything, kind of like, lined up conceptually. And it looks good. It feels good. It felt like I was participating in something or
participating with someone that meant something to me. Cuz I just remember like making the photograph and I’m in my dark box. And they’re playing music, and I’m like, getting like,
chicken skin while I'm trying to pour this plate, because the song's so beautiful. And like, like, I don't want to mess up the plate, so, like, the plate has, like, all
kinds of like, weird aberrations and like flaws on it, because I was so nervous when I was making it, but it reminds me of, like, that moment when I see it. Wet plate kind of ended up
being like away for me to, I guess, get back in to learning about Hawaiian culture or immersing myself in my culture, like where I’m from, what defines where I’m from and like how I
fit in that conversation. Those are just moments that I want to experience and then the wet plate is just something I can give back is an offering for allowing me to be in that moment.
I think it’s like fair reciprocity for me to go through that much amount of work on my side. Not that a digital camera is not like, capable of making a great picture, because
completely are. But I guess it wouldn't have meaning to me, if I, if I use a digital camera, I feel like it, to me, it wouldn't seem like a fair trade. Katherine Love: Well
I’ve known about Kenyatta’s work for quite a number of years. And following that myself and a couple of other curators from the museum visited his studio and talked to him about his
work and offered him an exhibition. They’re really beautiful works of art themselves, esthetically wonderful. And the fact that he uses the historical technique of wet plate collodion
photography, but really makes it, you know, something that is so relevant to today, and speaks to what is happening in Hawaiʻi. And really kind of is he's so interested in that
sharing of cultural knowledge with these cultural practitioners that he is meeting and interviewing, you know, so not they're not only beautiful works of art, but they're so
important to the continuation of the culture here in Hawaiʻi. Kenyatta: A lot of iconic photographs that we have of the Royal Family and of Hawaiians everyday life in the 1850s, the
people that made those photographs, they weren’t authentic. It was almost like they would come here and almost like try to make people look how they wanted them to look. So they’d put
them in, like, bikini tops and like fake back backdrops. Look at the people that live here. Look at the people, and like charge for, money, or just use it to, like, kind of brag at,
like, I don't know, like a lunch club, and just look like, look at my exploits and adventures. I went to Samoa. I went to Hawaiʻi. I did, look at the women. That’s kind if like
the stigma of how Hawai’i was photographed when this process was like the technology of the time. So I guess, in a playful way, I'm kind of like going back in time and like
imagining how Hawaiians would have looked if a Hawaiian was making the picture. And it's almost like, I guess, decolonizing photography. Kala’i Miller: Mahalo for joining us. Because
of you, we are able to share these stories. We thank all of you for your continued support. For Home is Here I’m Kalaʻi Miller, a hui hou. Bethany: He gets um, his hay chopped up really
fine just so it’s like a little easier for him to eat and his food gets soaked, so he lives the good life over here. Keoni: When I came here, one of the cats that really stuck out to
me was a cat named botox. And the cat had really puffy jowls. Kenyatta: When I got my view camera it was like this kid’s like great-grandfather’s camera. And when he, when he mailed it
to me he had like a letter, like I think my grandfather would love the fact that his camera is going to retire in Hawaiʻi.
