Since I was little, I've loved animals--especially cats. I had them as pets growing up, and my wife and I now also own a cat on Lanai. We moved there three and a half years ago, and upon arriving, we found a colony of about fifteen cats living around our apartment complex, Iwiole. Our downstairs neighbor fed and took care of them, along with a few kind volunteers. Being a cat lover, I couldn't resist, and also started feeding them. Our cat, Puka, was one of the fifteen, and promptly declared himself ours by placing himself on our porch every night and meowing until we fed him! We found out later that the previous tenant of our apartment also took care of Puka (who was formerly known as "Chase").
Over the past few years, I've gotten to know Kathy Carroll. She is known as the "cat lady" and has helped us out several times when our cat has been sick or injured. Her husband is the artist Mike Carroll, and she also works at the Mike Carroll Gallery in Lana'i City. In October 2009, she helped start the Lana'i Animal Rescue Center (LARC), a spacious open air 14,000 square foot enclosure. Earlier this year, a large expansion was opened up, which includes a specially designed cat house with ladders, perches, and tunnels. The sanctuary is complete with spacious cubicles for sleeping, "pallet palaces" for hiding, and kitty-climbing jungle gyms. Here are a few pictures of the LARC:
My wife and I are frequent visitors to LARC, as every Sunday there is an Open House from 3-5 where anyone can come visit and socialize with the cats (current total is about 286). Since the sanctuary is such a great place for the cats and they're so well taken care of (there are a team of volunteers that work there, and also a few paid workers), we decided that it was time for the Iwiole cat colony to be moved to the LARC. So far, we've successfully brought five cats to the shelter, and after the New Year, will be taking the rest down--that is, except for our cat, Puka, and our neighbor's cat, Stretch.
During a recent visit to the LARC, Jocelyn Taal, a worker at the sanctuary, suggested that I write a song and make a video about the shelter. There were a couple of birthdays coming up of volunteers/workers and her idea was to give it to them as a gift. I went home that night, picked up my ukulele, which I've just started learning, and immediately had an idea for the song. After I finished the song, I visited the LARC several times and took pictures and movies to use for the song/video. After a lot of hard work, I produced a song/video called "A Kitty Community." The video can be seen on Youtube, or can be viewed below:
During a recent visit to the LARC, Jocelyn Taal, a worker at the sanctuary, suggested that I write a song and make a video about the shelter. There were a couple of birthdays coming up of volunteers/workers and her idea was to give it to them as a gift. I went home that night, picked up my ukulele, which I've just started learning, and immediately had an idea for the song. After I finished the song, I visited the LARC several times and took pictures and movies to use for the song/video. After a lot of hard work, I produced a song/video called "A Kitty Community." The video can be seen on Youtube, or can be viewed below:
My hope with this video is to help raise funds for the Lana'i Animal Rescue Center, and to also make other animal lovers aware that places like this actually exist and are possible with community support. To make a donation to the LARC, you can visit their donations webpage, or send a check to:
Lana'i Animal Rescue Center
P.O. Box 631577
Lana'i City, Hawaii 96763-1577
