HAKA: The Hawai‘i Animal Kuleana Alliance
By Mālielani Larish
Moving hastily, Syndi Texeira lifted her neighbor’s dog, an 80-pound pit bull mix named Bear, into a vehicle for transport out of Leilani Estates. It was May 3, 2018, and the police and civil defense had informed residents of the Leilani subdivision that they needed to evacuate immediately. Bear’s owner was extremely grateful for Syndi’s help because she could not move Bear’s hefty frame on her own. She silently said goodbye to her home and left, not knowing if she would ever see it again.
On that day, steaming ground cracks in the subdivision had burst forth with lava, ushering in a four-month-long display of Kīlauea Volcano’s innate power to transform a verdant expanse into an archipelago of powerful lava fissures. Syndi and other volunteers continued to ask residents if they needed assistance with evacuating their pets. During those first 24 sleepless hours, they safely removed 20 animals from Leilani, including dogs, cats, rabbits, goats, and chickens.
Little did they know that this fateful night in 2018 was just the beginning of an extraordinary effort that saved more than 1,000 hurt and displaced animals; it was a night that eventually led to the creation of a permanent emergency rescue organization, the Hawai‘i Animal Kuleana Alliance.
Central Hub for Animal Rescues
As the sun rose on the second day of the intensifying eruption, another group of concerned citizens convened online to help the animals and humans in the hot zone. In an attempt to provide a centralized communication platform, Alessandra Rupar-Weber and Malia Becklund started the Hawai‘i Lava Flow Animal Rescue Network (HLFARN) Facebook group. This group served as an online hub where the community could coordinate animal rescues from areas impacted by the eruption.
Syndi Texeira, Laurie Lyons-Makaimoku, and three other women volunteered to serve as administrators for the group. The core HLFARN admins worked tirelessly to ensure that the needs of the rescued animals were met once they were safe, whether that involved transport, placement in vetted foster homes or sanctuaries, placement in temporary pastures for farm animals, or the provision of food and veterinary care. Many of the rescued animals were reunited with their original owners, but sometimes owners had to leave the island or were no longer in a living situation that allowed them to care for their pet’s needs.
In partnership with county, state, and private groups, the Hawai‘i Lava Flow Animal Rescue Network saved pets and farm animals from the Kīlauea eruption and provided for their long-term well-being with the financial backing of a successful GoFundMe campaign. Ultimately, community volunteers formed the backbone of the efforts to help animals and their owners.
“Without volunteers, none of this would have been possible,” says Laurie. “A tight-knit community of dedicated individuals quickly formed, with people from all walks of life coming together to perform rescue missions, drive their trailers, deliver food, provide animal care, and so much more. The bravery, fortitude, and compassion that these animal lovers showed were truly remarkable.”
Alessandra, who has promoted animal welfare in Hawai‘i for the last 10 years, recalls that she only slept a few hours a night during the first two months of the eruption because demand for coordinating support services for the animals mushroomed so quickly, and the local animal organizations were simply not equipped to handle the magnitude of the unfolding natural disaster.
Once the eruption ended in September 2018, HLFARN admins and volunteers continued to work until the end of the year, supporting fosters, locating permanent homes for animals, and assisting with supplies and transport.
Stories of Success
Amazing stories emerged out of the animal rescues. One handsome black pit bull puppy, who was sighted on the lānai of an abandoned home in an area landlocked by lava, had to be removed by helicopter in coordination with people from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), who had arrived in early June to lend their expertise. Although HLFARN administrators were unable to locate the dog’s original owners, they found the dog a wonderful new family. The family’s young son embraced his new dog, christening him “Pimple” in his effort to say the word “pit bull.”
Syndi and another volunteer even took a boat to the Pohoiki area in search of a three-legged dog named Sweetie, whose owner had lost a home to lava. Although they did not find Sweetie, they did encounter a dog and cat that they were able to rescue.
Protecting All Animals from Mauka to Makai
Alessandra, Syndi, and Laurie’s past experiences with animal rescues, combined with their unwavering love for all of our island’s animals from mauka to makai (upland to seaside), motivated them to form the Hawai‘i Animal Kuleana Alliance, or HAKA. Syndi serves as the executive director, Alessandra is the compassion care coordinator, and Laurie serves as the communications coordinator. HAKA became a legal nonprofit in June 2019, towards the tail end of another monumental undertaking. After finding out that a dairy in ‘O‘ōkala was about to close, the group organized the rescue and rehoming of more than 400 cows from the shuttered dairy.
In one recent miracle story, HAKA’s collaborative network of care transformed the life of a down-on-her-luck dog who was sighted wandering around the town of Kea‘au by a HAKA volunteer. The honey-hued female had an unsightly growth hanging from her mammary glands. A couple had already scooped the dog up and surrendered her to animal control by the time that Syndi drove around Kea‘au in search of her. Syndi contacted animal control staff, who were happy to learn that HAKA could help address the dog’s plight. Within minutes of arriving at HAKA, a volunteer foster dad came to pick up “Mila,” as she was now called. HAKA arranged two surgeries for Mila to remove the large growth and found her a new foster mom, who started to train her and lavish her with love. Eventually, HAKA found the perfect “forever home” for Mila, where she melted the heart of her new owner.
“It takes an enormous ‘ohana [family] of people who give their all to transform the life of a dog like Mila,” Alessandra says. “Mila was not housebroken, she was not leash trained, but that’s the wonderful thing about animals: they know what love means, and they know what it means to be in a wonderful home. Mila adapted very fast.”
In addition to coordinating disaster and emergency rescue assistance for animals, HAKA continues to be an online hub that provides integrated services and cooperative caretaking networks for island pets and farm animals. In the near future, HAKA hopes to revive a monthly pet food pantry, build upon relationships with local organizations, and secure the equipment, volunteers, and training necessary to conduct even the most advanced animal rescues. Alessandra gives the example of a calf who was stuck in a ditch in Hāmākua for four days because no one had the necessary equipment for her rescue. She envisions a future in which HAKA could respond to a situation like this immediately.
HAKA founders also see a drastic need for emergency veterinary services on the island and hope to establish an emergency veterinary center. Syndi points out that, even for pet owners who are established clients of a veterinary center, emergency pet services are difficult to obtain after 10pm or on weekends.
Syndi reminds people that veterinarians are working very hard in what can often be a thankless job. “We need to show appreciation for them,” she says, affirming that her beloved bulldog, Rachel, is still alive today after being rushed to surgery late one evening.
Reflecting on the Past to Prepare for the Future
Using the lessons learned from the 2018 eruption, HAKA is passionate about getting people prepared for the next eruption or natural disaster. Syndi says that the field rescues she participated in during the eruption were “heartbreaking, you saw dead animals everywhere.”
The HAKA ‘ohana believes that our animals deserve better. With preparation and early proactive intervention, the process of evacuating people and their animals during an emergency can proceed more smoothly and efficiently. As part of that essential preparation, HAKA is currently registering residents into a Disaster Animal Rescue Enrollment (DARE) database. In order to register, residents simply need to fill out a quick online form, which will help secure the assistance that owners and their animals will need during an emergency or disaster. HAKA is also currently recruiting volunteers to help in future emergencies as rescuers, foster homes, and transport drivers (with and without large trailers). In addition, HAKA seeks volunteers anytime who would like to assist with events or outreach, or who would like to give animals love as foster parents or permanent homes.
“We are in a state in this world that we need to take care of each other,” Alessandra says. To that end, HAKA is dedicated to demonstrating “compassion, kindness, and care for animals and people.” ❖
For more information:
linktr.ee/808HAKA, facebook.com/groups/hakaohana/
