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.