102. Our Kuleana (S11: Animals of the Maui Wildfires)

Episode 3/4 Series 11  Animals of The Maui Wildfires Transcript

Welcome to the 102nd episode of The Deal with Animals. In the last episode we followed the stories of five staff members at Maui Humane Society and we heard about the efforts of the MHS team the first days after the fire. Moani, humane resource officer, shared her emotional journey through Lahaina's burn zone and the coordination between multiple organizations that rallied to help Maui's Animals. 

In this episode we hear stories of survival and reunification of the animals lost in the fires. Then we delve into the question of why access to the burn zone to save more animals was suddenly denied. 

Please take a moment now and visit Donate to Maui Humane Society
a special joint page set up my MHS in partnership with TDWA to raise money for MHS' continues efforts for the animals of Maui.

Thank you to All the staff of Maui Humane Society for the dedication to the animals of Maui but in particular, thank you to the guests of this series who shared their stories.
Follow the Blog and/or the Newsletter for full bio's and links

• Moani Makaiwi was one of the first animal rescuers on scene during the tragic Lahaina fires. Between her strong family history in Lahaina as a native Hawaiian and her dedication to rescuing animals as a Humane Enforcement Officer, Moani's story is truly one that you will not forget.
• Emily Drose is one of MHS' two Fire Cat Specialists. In this role, she has worked closely with the feeding/trapping team in the burn zone and manages the cats' movement once in the care of MHS.  She was born and raised on Maui, with a background as a large animal veterinary technician, lead emergency vet tech, ( Hawaii's first ) community cat coordinator ,community outreach and humane enforcement.
• Johnny Lingao is Maui Humane Society's Wildfire Community Liaison. In this role, Johnny works directly with displaced Lahaina residents and those affected by the fires to get them what they need to keep their pets, whether that be veterinary care, pet housing deposits, supplies, food, etc.
• Jenny Miller The Director of Development of MHS at the time of the wildfires and my guide around the Maui Humane Society campus in October 2023 
• Katie Shannon worked at Maui Humane Society for 3 years, including Director of Marketing and Communications during the fires in August 2023. Katie's background is in media and marketing strategy
  
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  Compassion Fatigue
  

Show Credits⁠⁠⁠⁠ Thank you also to John Lasala for his beautiful music and audio engineering on Series 11!

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Transcript

Introduction and Recap

Marika: This is The Deal With Animals. I’m Marika Bell, anthrozoologist, CPDT dog trainer, and an animal myself. Welcome to a podcast about the connection and interaction between humans and other animals. This is Series Eleven, episode three of Animals of the Maui Wildfires.

Marika: In our last episode on animals of the Maui wildfires, we followed the harrowing first days after the disaster through the eyes of Maui Humane Society team members, Moani, Emily, Johnny, Katie, and Jenny. Today, we'll delve into a pressing question that emerged in the aftermath. Why was the entry to the burn zone abruptly denied?

Despite urgent animal rescue needs, access was suddenly restricted, even for Maui Humane Society staff and other trained disaster responders. What led to this decision and who was responsible, but first we'll reconnect with FireCat specialist Emily, Community Liaison Johnny,  and Humane Enforcement Resource Officer, Moani, to hear their firsthand accounts of the animals that braved the fires.

What did they experience in those first few days before rescue? And for the lucky ones, how was the staff at Maui Humane Society finally able to reunite them with their [00:01:00] families? Next is Emily to share with us a story about Mahina, a cat lost for 100 days in the Burnzone.

Please remember that this content may not be appropriate for all listeners. 

Survival Stories: The Resilient Animals of Lahaina

[00:01:13] Emily Drose: I can't even, like, I get the chills, like thinking about it, like their ability to survive is so strong. And I say this all the time, like animals are so much smarter than we are. Like they know way before we do, like what's going on and they, their amazing instinct to survive and just know what to do, like, like truly they're going to take over the world one day as they should.

But I can't even imagine, like, being a happy indoor outdoor cat, living your best fat cat life and then all of a sudden this, it's literally like a funnel of fire just blazes through everything you know and completely disorients you. And yet you still have this internal compass and just this instinct to be able to [00:02:00] return back later when it's, you know, Safe, if you would call that safe, post fire, because what I found, um, especially in Mahina's case and a few other cats, like, especially some of the more friendly outdoor owned as opposed to our like free roaming unsocial cats, they truly have this internal compass that tells them where to go.

Like a lot of cats, like even in Mahina's case, she was trapped 100 days post fire. And a lot of these cats were still being trapped at their home addresses, or a few blocks away, or a few houses down, like they were literally, I'm going to try not to cry, I get, I cry a lot. Um, they're just sitting at home, waiting for their people to come back.

And it just, it blew my mind. Like, I wouldn't think that any animal would stay around that long. And it speaks to the bond that we have with our pets. And they truly are a part of our Ohana. This cat was literally survived. A natural disaster has just been [00:03:00] sitting and waiting on what would have been her front porch.

If it wasn't blazed away, I look at the beginning animals that were brought in that needed the most immediate care who were burned, who were dehydrated, who had smoke inhalation, who, who didn't have the ability to thrive because we didn't have those feeding stations set up. We didn't have access. To where we wanted to be in right away, and it just blows my mind to look at those animals to October, November, December, and to now, how well they started to look, like aside from singe whiskers and like being covered in soot, Mahina was still very much a very happy fat cat.

When she came in, she still looked great. So she was very much taking advantage of those feeding stations, but to be so disoriented where you survive a fire a hundred days later, you're trapped. You're scared. You don't know where you're going. You have these. Humans in your face [00:04:00] talking to you. You want nothing to do with it.

You just want to know where your people are. I always tell people it must've been like an alien abduction for them because they're trapped. They're brought in. We're all looking at them. We're taking their photos. They're being sedated, poked and prodded. If anybody wasn't spayed or neutered, they'd get it done at that time.

They'd get vaccinated. They'd get whatever treatments we could provide that they needed. And then they recover. And then it's Ash and I looking at them the next day going, who are you? Who do you want to be? Where do you want to live until the unforeseeable future and then placing them in that housing and having to reacclimate and adapt to new sounds, new smells, new people, other animals.

And I just can't imagine the stress. I try to compare it and like, put it in my own perspective. Like, you know, if I were to just be picked up and then put like on another island tomorrow. Yeah, I might be okay, but I probably wouldn't have that same ability to thrive, or if you put me in another country tomorrow, I wouldn't know [00:05:00] where to go, I wouldn't know the language, I wouldn't know what water safe to drink, like, it's just, and maybe I'm putting off too much of my own emotions on these cats, but to go through that experience, and in Mahina's case, It was wild, like tracking her family down.

So she trapped, had her alien abduction, came in, had her assessment, and then was placed at our Wailuku Annex housing because she fell kind of right in the middle. Like we could tell she's had human interaction. She's friendly. She looks good. She's fat. Clearly she had a caregiver before if she looks this good.

So her microchip initially came back to a Like a known community cat caregiver in Lahaina. Like she's been doing it longer than I've even been alive. So we tracked her down and we're like, any chance you recognize this cat? She's chipped to you. Do you know what colony she's from? Was she feeder friendly?

Was like, did she have another feeder? And through that coconut wireless, she's like, Hey, I actually know the family. Like I adopted this cat out to this [00:06:00] family, but her microchip was never updated. So it went through Facebook and Instagram and. All these posts and tracking down phone numbers and looking up like property tax records to get names, phone numbers, anything.

And her family had already relocated to Montana when we tracked them down because there was already a housing crisis here before the fire.

[00:06:21] Marika: We'll revisit Mahina's tale later in our series. But for now, let's dive into Johnny's perspective on the remarkable ways animals may have adapted to survive in the fires and in the burn zone.

[00:06:35] Johnny Lingao: Especially with cats, I mean, from other disasters and that not just that I've been involved with, but with other people who came into Maui Humane, who had experience with other wildfires, such as Paradise, California. You know, we hear about cats and just like their ability to find a little niche, find a sewage system to hide themselves in, whereas I don't think many animals are able to share the same [00:07:00] instincts in regards to like, in regards to the Lahaina fire.

Maui Humane Society, we weren't able to gain access into the burn zone until three weeks after, and us and like various other groups, and if we were able to be there immediately, we would have probably seen the survival instincts of dogs as well, because the amount of cats that we've been able to save and that were able to survive and find shelter superseded the percentage of dogs that we were able to rescue, which are very few.

For a three week time span,

[00:07:36] Marika: let's pause on the lockout discussion for now and shift our focus to Moani at the time an animal control officer. I'm sure you're eager to hear how she was able to recover and rescue so many animals in those first few days. 

Moani: I think I[00:07:52] came out four times. My first load, I think I had six and then after that it just [00:08:00] became a blur.

It was just like, grab and go, grab and go, grab and go. Honestly, you know, I, I think they said I brought out in a total of like a two day span, about 21 animals or so. And some of them obviously, you know, had passed on in transportation, you know, cause they were that bad off. So. You know, I was just trying to do the best that I could with what I had and also with the knowledge that I had prior becoming an animal control officer.

So it was a combination of using all the resources that I had in my brain to figure out something with the least amount of communication that I had and just try to make sure that when the animals were able to get into the shelter and be seen by our vets, [00:09:00] you know, that I did. what I could, the best way that I could possibly come up with, you know.

[00:09:21] Marika: Every story of trauma shared adds to the weight they carry, pushing them to their limits as they strive to save more lives. Amid such chaos, maintaining focus and composure becomes a monumental task. Yet in these trying times, Stories of hope emerge. Moana's reunion with her family serves to remind us of the strength of the bond we hold for our families, whether they have two legs or four, knowing her parents were safe, must have been a huge boost to her ability to continue working in the burn zone as long as she did.

[00:09:58] Moani: Yes, no, I, [00:10:00] you know, I. That is so true. I think had my folks, I could not locate them. I know a part of it, you know, would be more emotional for me. Um, not that I'm saying that those days of working by myself in line was not emotional. Oh, it was. But it just would have took it to a whole new level. Of now visually seeing Lahaina, right, and visually seeing that recovery hasn't even began with.

And me knowing the last time I saw my folks of where they were at should be among those lost. So I was very fortunate that I was able to find my folks. And it enabled me. To do my job, you know, what I needed to do and to do it safely, but also at the same time with the utmost respect and care, you know, that [00:11:00] was needed in that moment.

[00:11:03] Marika: Let's take a moment to revisit the animals in that first subdivision. The place where Moani was able to make her mark, leaving her calling card on the garages. After those first three days of Moani's search, volunteers were parsed out into the areas where they could use their skills the most. For Moani, that was still search and rescue because of her background with Lahaina.

During that time, they were able to check on animals that still had shelter in place, and continue to search for animals that still needed help.

[00:11:34] Moani: Besides my boss pulling me out and saying, No. Time out, Moani. Time out. You stay out. You know, you're gonna run dispatch or something and you know I'm very grateful to her for doing that for me as much as I didn't want to take those moments You know, you know just wanted to be in Lahaina to help as much as I could but I'm very grateful that she did I needed [00:12:00] time to switch my I train a thought, it was always just constantly on a go, go, go, like non stop, go to bed, get up, head back to Lahaina, you know, go to sleep, do it again.

And sometimes, you know, in the first couple of days while I was in Lahaina by myself, I barely had any sleep because, you know, I had my police department, I was knocking on my dad's apartment,

but you know, like I said, I would do it again, a hundred percent. Do it again. Like a sleep and all. I was just grateful that I had that opportunity to be that one that went out. I'm from Lahaina and my family and you know, I lost some family members. We lost some family friends. We lost family homes. I'm, I'm thankful and grateful that, you know, I was able [00:13:00] to be that person.

[00:13:03] Marika: In the series of interviews I conducted, A recurrent theme emerged, thankfulness. Individuals expressed gratitude for their significant roles they played during the crisis. They saved lives, reunited families, and bore the profound responsibility of navigating amidst tragedy. They didn't take these responsibilities lightly, but as time pressed on, they faced the grim reality of halting their rescue missions amid the unfolding disaster recovery.

And let's keep in mind that this havoc isn't just confined to Maui. It's a growing global concern. Nowhere feels immune. Even my home in the Pacific Northwest, famous for its abundant rainfall, is experiencing unprecedented ecological stress. Lately, the iconic big leaf maples have suffered greatly from heat stress.

Grief and Questions

Living amidst the woods, the fear of a single careless act igniting a [00:14:00] devastating fire is palpable. A recent windstorm started a fire at the end of my road just last year, nearly escalating into a disaster. We all have a shared vulnerability, no matter where we call home. 

Now, let's rejoin Katie, our Director of Communications during the first few weeks after the fires, as she shares her first hand experience with the challenges of communicating in the aftermath of a catastrophic event.

She offers invaluable advice for anyone who might find themselves in a similar daunting role, underscoring the importance of clear, empathetic communication during times of crisis.

[00:14:36] Katie Shannon: Uh, so there's really three things that I think are really important. One is you have to understand that in crisis communications, you have to work quickly.

You are going to work crazy hours if you want that message to be out effectively and in a timely manner. You have to be agile because the information that you receive is going to consistently be changing. And [00:15:00] so in some regards, some of that messaging is also going to be changing consistently. And you also have to be open you have to be open minded and you also have to have open communication You need to be speaking to your staff.

You need to be speaking to the people who are looking to help and you need to also make sure that you are speaking and making sure that you're getting all of the information that you need in order to effectively communicate what's changing.

[00:15:28] Marika: One Of the unexpected twists that caught animal rescuers off guard was the abrupt shutting down of the checkpoint into the Lahaina burn zone.

After nearly a week of working hand in hand with other first responders, rescuing and aiding lost and injured animals, they were suddenly barred from entering. Meanwhile, the search for human remains pressed on, leaving the mission to find animals clinging to life in limbo for three weeks. At that time, the team at Maui Humane Society was in the dark about how [00:16:00] long this exclusion would last.

They knew some animals had miraculously survived the blaze, desperately needing medical care, or at the very least, food and water. Each day denied access meant an unknowable number of animals lives hanging in the balance

[00:16:16] Katie Shannon: of course there were things that we were doing within those three weeks, you know, we didn't sit back and relax and we didn't receive the access that you typically would have received in a tragedy because there were human remains that were, you know, they needed to find the, I guess, tension between government here in Hawaii and the people really shined through in this time.

And so I think that there needs to be a very large cultural aspect to understanding the organization or the shelter, whatever it may be, whatever company that you are working with, but you have to reflect and see if there [00:17:00] is a cultural aspect to this that needs to be taken into consideration. And in this circumstance, there was, you know, while there are human remains being found, of course, animals should be a secondary priority.

Right. But they need to be a priority because in order to provide closure to people who have lost absolutely everything, perhaps some, including their lives, you also need to provide that closure to the people that see animals as their family. I don't think anyone can appropriately prepare for a tragedy like this, but I think that there are things that organizations can certainly have set up to ensure that they are ready to, to put these things into motion.

And I must say, we had organizations across the country that helped us, in our help, whether animal control or going out in search and rescue. So, we had Animal Search and Rescue, which is a national organization. Um, [00:18:00] Eric Thompson is the lead of that and he came in and he really helped organize the different organizations.

National organizations that came in to help us in animal search and rescue during that time. So there's a lot of, a lot of help, but you know, it is just extremely overwhelming. Where do you really even start if so many people on the ground have never been through something like this before?

[00:18:24] Marika: Reflecting on my chat with Jenny, the director of development at MHS, two months post disaster, I find myself considering the challenges of locating animals, even just the remains amid search and rescue operations that raised a couple of questions.

Were Maui Humane Society staff and volunteer groups like Eric Thompson's animal search and rescue team on their own in this mission, or did the human search and rescue teams also find themselves recovering and rescuing animals they encountered along the way? Here's Jenny. 

Jenny Miller: Oh, yes. [00:18:57] I mean, they were, the animals were all over the streets.

They were [00:19:00] running. When we were allowed in, even in a small number, there would be. You know, it was plentiful. We didn't need to be told where they were, but now if National Guard or anybody does find a deceased animal, they will let us know, but they're also letting us know where the live ones are and, and reporting and taking pictures of animals with collars on and things like that.

All animals are scanned for microchips. Sometimes in the field, we would scan a deceased animal for a microchip, didn't get it, but once it got back here, We were able to maybe scan again at a later state and, and find that microchip. We were able to give a lot of, uh, closure to, to a lot of people. I'd say that about half were microchipped, that were deceased, and it was very difficult because a lot of them that weren't microchip, they did not look like.

The animal that was alive. And so even if people were insistent on, on looking at a deceased animal, it was, there's no way that you would know it was your [00:20:00] animal. So it's been, it's been crazy. It's been crazy. I look back at, at some of the photos. And the emotion is only now starting to come out. Just seeing the, the volume of animals in severe pain.

And just coming in, in, in a shoebox. You, you're not used to seeing animals all burnt and, Yeah, it's only, I think only now it's starting to allow myself to. We had a job to do. And, uh And you still do. We still have a long job to do. We have a lot, a long job to do. And I'm grateful to have been a part of it.

And I am grateful to our team. Our absolute superstars. The one thing, we're all very different. We have all very different backgrounds. But we're bound by an experience. stream passion. None of us just work here because it's a job. Right. So it was pretty cool to see everybody step up and just [00:21:00] say, what do you need?

I am 24 seven and just jump in headfirst.

[00:21:06] Marika: Yet, as I walked through the friendly cat area with Jenny, she shared stories of the injuries these resilient animals have overcome from singed whiskers. To the more severe like eye injuries and issues caused by smoke inhalation. Every cat had a story.

Evidencing their battles with carbon monoxide poisoning, burnt ears, and singed paws.

[00:21:29] Jenny Miller: You know, there was the fire burnt so hot that it even melted asphalt and we could see paw prints all over the place. These animals went through hell.

[00:21:40] Marika: Yet as I mingled with them, their spirits were unbroken. They approached me, not with the hesitance you might expect, but with an openness and a clear invitation.

Perhaps I could be their new beginning? These cats painted a vivid picture of survival and hope, and yes, you'll see all of the photos in the blog at [00:22:00] thedealwithanimals. com. This visit not only deepened my understanding, but made me wish I had room in my home for another furry family member. If you're feeling the same way, Jenny had this advice.

[00:22:11] Jenny Miller: And in fact, if anybody wants to come on vacation, it's a great excuse to come on a vacation. And, um, adopt a cat, we'll fly, we'll get the health certificate, which is required for flight. We'll give you a, uh Airline approved kennel, we will pay for that animal's flight and send it home with you. Wow.

[00:22:29] Marika: Let's return to Moani's journey.

In the first days following the disaster, Moani ventured into Lahaina's hardest hit areas on a mission to rescue animals. This dangerous but necessary effort raised one overarching question for her.

[00:22:46] Moani: Why… the lives that were lost on French Street, some of them, you know, I just, the water was right there.

The ocean right there, you know, I'm just thinking [00:23:00] like you could have been in the water. You and your family could have been in the water. But at the same time, you know, I have to tunnel vision it, and put my blinders on at the same time, and Or after I try to rescue that cat that's completely singed, eyes swollen, shut, and it's just running because it's scared, and it's hot, and you can tell its paws are completely melted off.

But this cat is still going, or this dog is still going, and I have a job to do.

[00:23:37] Marika: After hearing these stories, you may begin to wonder how any of these animals survived.

[00:23:43] Moani: I think honestly, the cats, I think some of them actually went into the rock walls, you know, of the ocean, the sea walls. Even though the rock walls were obviously hot themselves too, but I think they used it as somewhat of a [00:24:00] shelter and having the salt water there.

And then I think some of them just got caught, you know, between running away from their home and now You know, they're like, where am I? Because they probably was, they were running away from the fire and they went in the opposite direction till they got caught in it. But like you said earlier, you know, you did have some homes untouched.

Yet, every single home, business, cars, everything around them, completely, completely just destroyed. And yet, you have this one car, or this one house, and when I say the house, I mean their tea leaf plant is still standing, their banana tree is still standing, their, everything on their property. Including the house is still there or you have some cars that are completely destroyed into the ground Like, you know, you're looking at an suv or should have been an suv, but [00:25:00] it now looks like a small sedan You know, and you see no tires.

You see no wheels because they're completely destroyed completely, you know, I saw like how the rims just look like It was melted like mercury on, on the paved road. It looked like mercury.

[00:25:20] Marika: I was curious about the various animals on the island, beyond just dogs and cats. Does the Maui Humane Society take care of the harmed wildlife and other animals, or is there a different organization tasked with this?

Here's Jenny with the answer.

[00:25:36] Jenny Miller: Nope. Uh, so Department of Agriculture, And, uh, DLNR, we're supposed to be, um, they are wildlife. So, we didn't bring any wildlife in here. However, we, just until very recently, have been supporting pigs, goats, and horses with food. A lot of the fields and the pastures burnt up. A [00:26:00] lot of the fencing burnt down.

A lot of the animals had nothing. So we had a 40 foot container of hay shipped over here as soon as we could. We had teams from ASPCA as well as our own human enforcement officers building fences, creating shade structures. Um, we have paid for the vet bills for equine and cattle. We've spent probably over a hundred thousand dollars on a livestock feed because although that's not our mandate, who's going to help them?

These people have nothing. The pigs traditionally are fed by The scraps from the hotels and there were no tourists. So all the hotels were, restaurants were closed. So all of a sudden their food supply dried up. So we were feeding half dog food and half all purpose pig food. We're supporting about 1200 pigs.

These are wild pigs. No, no. These are, yeah. House [00:27:00] home. Well, yeah, farm. Yeah. Well, that was an issue for us. We were like, do we support a pig farm where we don't want to ask the question, but we're pretty sure these animals are going to be slaughtered, right? And the answer was yes, because we didn't want those animals to suffer or live in an inhumane condition and starve to death.

So although we were pretty aware of what the outcome was going to be, we felt it was the right thing to ensure those animals didn't suffer.

It wasn't necessarily a, an agreement across the board here. Yeah.

[00:27:40] Marika: Let's revisit those pivotal three weeks when MHS staff and other animal rescue organizations were barred from entering the burn zone.

The decisions made by authorities didn't go unquestioned. Both the staff and the community were seeking answers. Here is Emily.

[00:27:57] Emily Drose: Like with any, Anything in [00:28:00] animal welfare, there's a lot of misconceptions, and even MHS as a whole, there's been a disconnect in the community for so many years, and we were only looked at the place that you go, like the dog pound, right?

Like, we didn't have the amazing programs and resources 20, 10 years ago, so there is a little bit of a disconnect and you know. With anything not everybody's gonna agree with everything we do and especially with the free roaming cats That's always a contentious issue No matter where you go and Maui's free roaming cat population has always been out of control until recent years when we introduced our TNR program That's what I did for the past two years and kind of building that bridge in that gap with our community Educating on free roaming cats on TNR, how it's helpful.

The way everything happened with Lahaina, not just MHS approach, but everything in our leadership, in our politics, in our community, a lot of people were let down. A lot of people were confused. They were [00:29:00] angry. There was. A point in time, like a week post fires, we were all still looking for friends and family while still here every day attending to severely burned animals and just coming in at any times of day and night and not being allowed access in the initial days.

I know really, um, it was hard on staff. It was hard on the community. But we just tried to kind of band together the best that we could and provide all the services that we could, but even then there's always a question like you can do more, you can always do more. And that's what social media, right?

People get access to like minuscule amounts of information and then it's blown up and it's just the belly of the beast of where we are and. In our, in our field that we, that we choose to, that we choose to dedicate our lives to and just the world that we end with social media and so much access to misinformation and everything being under a microscope.

But it's hard every day to be pouring your heart out, trying your best, and then hearing every day, like, you can do more, you're not doing enough. [00:30:00]

[00:30:01] Marika: Jenny also expressed her frustrations, highlighting the confusion that pervaded that time.

[00:30:07] Jenny Miller: People didn't know if their houses were still standing or not, but they knew that their animals had been left inside.

You know, you said that animals are not often the first thing thought about in the aftermath of a disaster, and that's very true. We were unable to get into The burn zone, which is a still locked off to the public for three weeks. And so, you know, there was quite an uproar from the community with all these people saying, I don't know if my house is standing or not.

My animal might've made it and now it's starving and dying of dehydration, get in there.

[00:30:38] Marika: In the past, when disaster struck some in the United States faced a harsh reality. Animals could not evacuate with their families. Government policies prioritized human lives, sadly ignoring the bond between people and their pets.
Fighting for Access: The Struggle to Rescue Animals

This often left individuals with a heart wrenching choice. Evacuate to safety, or [00:31:00] stay behind with their animals. Who, for many, were their only support or family. Thankfully, perspectives have shifted. Nowadays, the inclusion of animals in evacuation plans is becoming more common, allowing families to stay together during disasters.

However, the chaos of an evacuation can still force people into dangerous situations as they search for their frightened pets.

[00:31:22] Jenny Miller: And we have lots of reports of that, of people who stayed for their animals and they didn't make it. The county was supportive of us, the mayor was supportive of us getting access.

We were fighting every day. We were contacting senators, we were, we were like, you know, who's, who's going to make this change? FEMA was supportive of us. And Eric Thompson from ASAR. Who basically was our advocate at these EOC meetings, um, which is basically like the control center where every major organization that's responding to the disaster sends their ops person.

Uh, Eric had never been locked out like this before. [00:32:00] He found it very unusual and he was very respectful of any cultural issues. So it took a lot of pressure from the public. There were protests, there were demonstrations.

[00:32:11] Marika: So, who specifically told animal rescuers that they were not allowed to enter the burn zone?

Who made the decision, and who was physically preventing access?

[00:32:22] Jenny Miller: Yeah, uh, you know, we were just never really given a firm answer on that. But we were told that we had everybody's support, but if you actually showed up and tried to go in with it wouldn't let us in Yeah, so we had National Guard. We had Maui Police Department We had all sorts of people, we still have, um, guarding this zone, and that they had all been instructed you had to have a special permit in order to enter, and we could not get that permit.

I mean, we're like, call Oprah, call The Rock, call anybody, call everybody! You know, at the same [00:33:00] time, we needed to play by the rules. A, we needed to be respectful that that was a massive graveyard. And that people's relatives were incinerated. And they had to go through that ash very, very carefully and thoroughly.

We were very respectful of the fact that human lives were lost. We also have a county contract. We're the only animal shelter on the island. We have a very good relationship with the county and our relationship with them is a big contributor to our budget. Us being able to provide the services that we do.

So we needed to be diplomatic, but we were fighting like hell behind the scenes.

[00:33:41] Marika: In the wake of challenges and tragedy. Jenny's love for the Maui community, and all the organizations who came to aid the efforts, shines through. It's time to reflect on the spirit of giving, and the vital role that each of us can play.

Today, I'm urging you to join us in collaboration with Maui Humane [00:34:00] Society. We've set a goal to raise 10, 000 to support their crucial projects. Every donation brings us closer to aiding these animals still facing hardships in Maui. Recovery is a journey. It takes years, not weeks or months, please visit the donation page linked in the show notes or at the deal with animals.

com your contribution, no matter the size makes a huge difference. And to amplify your impact, please share this podcast with others.

[00:34:30] Jenny Miller: People come out of the woodwork. And what was amazing with the checks and the donations that we received were all accompanied, almost all accompanied by a handwritten letter explaining the person's relationship to Hawaii or Maui, photos of their own animals, really touching, incredible sentiments, uh, just of love and support.

It's was very, is very moving and it [00:35:00] really helped us. Cause it's been very, very difficult on our staff. The trauma of the people who come in here looking for their animals, telling their stories of how they were literally almost on fire running with their animal. They had to put them down in order to cover their mouth with their t shirt or they would have asphyxiated.

Uh, you know, jumping into the ocean and their, you know, car explosion and they had to let go of the leash and the dog ran, you know, they watching people burn, hearing people scream as they were dying in their cars. The trauma that this entire island. Has encountered is, is life changing and our, our staff has been on the front line of collecting those bodies, helping the, the people who show up here, hundreds of people at the beginning, every day in tears, begging for us to have their animal, the trauma that they've been exposed to and just the constant chaos and the, the adrenaline for.

That went on for so long, it's, it's been, [00:36:00] uh, it's been hard, but reading that support and those, those letters and stuff, it's, it's really gotten us through.

[00:36:09] Marika: Working in animal welfare is challenging. Every day you're on the front line facing some of the harshest realities of how animals are treated. It's a world where the sad stories and difficult relationships between humans and animals are inescapable.

It's easy to slide into cynicism, to start viewing the world with a weary eye. The constant exposure to trauma can take a toll, not just on those we're helping, but on ourselves as well. This vicarious trauma, witnessing the distressing stories, can lead to what's often described as compassion fatigue or burnout.

It's a real and pressing issue in this field. If you're feeling the weight of these stories, know that you're not alone. In the show notes, I've included links for support and further reading. [00:37:00] Also consider tuning into episode 50 of the deal with animals, recognizing and overcoming compassion fatigue with Hillary Hager.

For insights and strategies on managing these challenges,

[00:37:11] Jenny Miller: you, you hug these people, you, you feel it, they're, they're in tears. They've lost everything. Their only hope is that their most beloved cat might be here and they want to look in the freezer and they want to think that this cat that's definitely not their cat.

Cause they have a photo might be their cat. You know, they're, they're willing it to be alive. And in most cases, it's not. The staff is hanging in there, but there's a lot of trauma and it's right at the surface. I mean, I'm a development director. I was out there picking up dead animals all over the street, people's pets.

Like what, what the hell? We're, we're changed. We've actually recovered seven, over 700 animals from Lahaina since the fire. [00:38:00] That includes animals that were deceased, but we've done about 140 reunions of dogs and cats. We've treated pet chickens and birds for fire related injuries. We had a really fun pig named Hamlet here, his name Um, so we've had love birds, we we've had tortoises, uh, all with burns.

So we've, it's been a busy, busy time.

[00:38:29] Marika: The team at MHS has faced numerous challenges during their mission, but their commitment remains unwavering. Let's hear from some of the team and their experiences regarding the closure of the burn zone for animal rescue. Here first is Emily.

[00:38:44] Emily Drose: So I know I wasn't back at the organization yet, but I remember watching as an outside perspective and it was our leadership, like our state and our County.

There was so much, like, I can't even like thinking about our [00:39:00] response and how overwhelmed we were. I can't think about what they went through and we're not always going to agree with, you know, that our leadership was right or wrong, or that everybody did the best that they could considering, but there was so much.

Chaos and so much going on and so much unfolding that there was so much back and forth where only National Guard could be let in, but National Guard wasn't here until a few days after the fire. I want to say it was close to a week. And at that point. So many casualties, both human and animal, it was just best at that point, what I think they were thinking is to just block it all off because how do you even begin to understand where to start searching for survivors or deceased and allowing them that respect and allowing our community to process what happened.

And then just the, you can imagine how overwhelmed the communication was with our state and our leadership. Like, I just [00:40:00] can't imagine. And then us, you know, ramped up us being MHS, like ready to go and geared up and ready to go. And there was so much back and forth where at one point residents were allowed in with a Lahaina license or visitors who were staying out at the hotel were allowed to go get their things.

And then it was cut off because people, Illegally entered the burn zone and we're seeing things that should not have been seen, but then there was just so much back and forth and confusion when national guard got here. And that was a little bit more, I don't want to say strict, but like, you know, when the military is involved, it's a little bit different ballgame.

Like you can't just jump a barrier and jump a fence. And, and it was so much chaos. Like I remember being in that lineup because I was able to get in as a civilian with my family member and their Lahaina license. People were still looking for their children, like people were looking for children, they were looking for their kupuna, who were home, they were looking for friends, family, co workers, because there was no cell service out there.

No way to contact anyone. [00:41:00] The people who were out there were cut off from most of the supplies, there was, you know, You know, the water wasn't good. There was no electricity. So it's all this chaos of everybody wanting to get in to help, but also having to understand, like, this wasn't something we could just go through and trample through.

And now that I've actually seen the devastation for what it was, there would have been no way to control the public at large going through looking for family and seeing their loved ones deceased and the things that we saw in the initial phases. Like, I honestly still have. A lot of survivors guilt and I have remorse for seeing some of the things that I saw out there that I didn't intend to see and I almost felt guilty.

Like I shouldn't have this access. I'm not able to help these people that I have found who have died here. I don't, I don't have a purpose here. I need to take a break. I need to let the people who can come in and do this job, do this job. But also you're thinking about all the other people who were still trapped.

We call it in Lahaina. So like I said, it's a, it's a, [00:42:00] If you haven't been to Lahaina, Maui, it is a two lane road, one way in, one way out, and it was blocked, and then we have our backside, where you can go literally around the head of Maui, if you look at our map, cliffside, and you can get out and come out on the other side of the island, but it's very dangerous, and it's not ideal to have a gridlock of hundreds of people.

cliffside. So both sides were blocked and access was being granted for essential first responders. And of course, MFD was still putting out active fires and flare ups. And so it just, it wasn't safe. It still wasn't safe. There were still people residing, like, In the upper parts of Lahaina that were untouched by the fire itself, but then cut off for resources.

So for more than a week, if I can remember it correctly, and trauma response, right? You block certain things out. That road was completely blocked at one point to anybody because it got too overwhelming. And then, of course, the public, very upset and wanted answers and wanted to know what the plans were and what the next steps were.

Then at one [00:43:00] point, a placard system was introduced, which then got shut down because the need for it was too overwhelming and the oversight for it just wasn't set up. And there were hundreds of people set up in churches and stadiums and like literally paper lists of people. Checking in with their names and their family's names being like, I'm alive.

I'm here. And all of that being circulated on social media. So it was just truly something apocalyptic, like out of a movie.

[00:43:27] Marika: And three months after the fire, here are Katie's thoughts on the access and subsequent checkpoint closure just a few days after rescues started.

[00:43:35] Katie Shannon: Uh, so I think from an immediate standpoint, within the first few days, I think it's appropriate.

I think it's appropriate to make human. Search and rescue the most important thing. And also it is so difficult to understand the impact, the toxicity of the destruction, right? So not letting people in right away, I think was the correct decision, but it [00:44:00] went on for too long. I believe it was the animal cares act that was passed after Katrina, hurricane Katrina.

That allowed human search and rescue to also be alongside animal search and rescue. There is a hesitancy, letting people in, not understanding the expertise that the teams that were here to help us had and how they were so qualified. And I think that that's probably the hardest part of it because the teams ended up leaving and then having to come back once we were, we gained access.

So we had teams that are experts, In this field coming to help Maui Humane Society and all of the other animal organizations here on island and To be denied the access to that without really being able to advocate for the animals simply because it was expected that they didn't know what they were doing and That cost lives, you know, it's going to be very hard to prove that [00:45:00] but it took three weeks to get in and so within the first few days we You You know, we were organizing everything that we could in order to be on the outskirts of the impact.

And, you know, we ended up providing thousands of gallons of water because the water was also contaminated, right? It's also still contaminated. They're saying even now that it's going to be years until people in Lahaina can actually drink water from the pipes because everything has been contaminated.

Melted down. But could we have done more had we been given the opportunity to get in faster? I 100 percent believe that. I mean, our leadership, and Eric as well, were in daily meetings with government officials, advising the expertise and allowing, and, you know, Eric has been through this many, many times, and he had said, I've [00:46:00] never gotten this level of pushback before.

[00:46:02] Marika: And so, we're still faced with the question, Where did this pushback originate? Why was there such significant resistance against organizations with proven experience in animal search and rescue? What made Maui's situation different from other locations these groups have successfully aided?

[00:46:21] Katie Shannon: I mean, I think Hawaii has a very unique scenario in the sense of there are many people here that still believe that Hawaii should never be a part of the United States.

There is a hesitation of allowing people from mainland U. S. to come in and advise as to how things should be run. And I think that there is a fear of that as well. Understandably so. Look at the history of it. You know, a lot has come out as well about the lack of decisions that should have been made were not made in a timely manner or they weren't made at all from [00:47:00] county or government officials in Hawaii.

And I think that this was one of them, but I know that we had the expertise we needed. And that is approved basically in any other tragedy. I mean, a lot of the people were at the Paradiso fire in California many, many years ago, and so. They were here to help.

[00:47:24] Marika: So, surrounded by unanswered or unanswerable questions and grappling with decisions made by authorities, in these moments of uncertainty, one wonders if we could have navigated the situation any better ourselves.

Turning to Johnny, the community liaison, I asked if he thinks more lives would have been saved if authorities had made a different choice.

[00:47:45] Johnny Lingao: I think that would be the presumption. If there wasn't such regulatory entities involved, it was just like pure instinctive dive in and help like other sentient beings.

I feel like if we were able to. [00:48:00] Access into the burn zone within like a week, we would see like more survival success stories of dogs and other animals. But I mean, there are several cases of people who have their dogs and who escaped an apartment complex and they knew that they left their dog in the room and they wanted to just get back to the apartment complex just to open the door just so the dog can, you know, because a lot, a lot of cases we can certainly presume.

That animals weren't able to survive through like suffocation through, you know, elevated dust levels and what have you. So it's like, if we would have been able to address some of these factors. Yeah, I'm just, I'm just like recollecting like 2 cases of people that that visited the shelter and they were just.

In their own head, regretting, thinking back on their means of escaping and not being able to do what [00:49:00] they define as, as the best that they could, where it's like, I should have just left the door open. Like, I could have, I should have done this, but disasters are very complicating and of course, like, especially with, especially Maui disaster, it's very, it's an exceptional one where there are so many factors with such a loving community, such a diverse community.

A lot of like animal advocates, you know, in Hawaii, there's a Hawaiian word, you know, kahu, where it's, it means like our animal, they're not our pet. We are their guardian. So there's, there's, there's that tie with it too.

[00:49:38] Marika: Two months following the devastating fires, Maui Humane Society had been a beacon of hope for the community.

In its care, 250 cats and 60 dogs directly affected by the blaze found shelter, while an additional 40 dogs were placed into foster homes. To accommodate over 100 cats, MHS expanded, renting a building in [00:50:00] town. For those searching for their missing pets, the Maui Humane Society offered a binder full of images This allowed people to visually search for their cats without causing undue stress to animals who often hid in their bunks when visited by the community.

So why didn't more of the cats have microchips? A step that would have sped up the reunification process significantly. Here is Jenny.

[00:50:24] Jenny Miller: Um, it's actually a state law as of about a year ago. So everybody gets a microchip. Um, the cats that were pulled out of Lahaina, I would say probably 30 percent have microchips.

Um, we did get about 1500 lost reports since the fire of pets that are missing, but we're trapping daily and we're doing reunifications almost daily. Just with cats, the dogs really did not fare as well in the fire. The majority of the dogs died, but the cats were resourceful and tenacious and they hid in culverts and in drains and [00:51:00] they've now been living in a toxic wasteland for the last two months, over two months.

So we have. 75 feeding stations in the burn zone that we're constantly filling and feeding so that we can sustain that population. We estimate there's about another 250 living in there. They're all going to have to be trapped and removed. A lot of community cats, some feral. And then we're holding onto them for a period of time because a lot of them are so traumatized that they may be pets.

So, we're giving them the opportunity to decompress here or at the annex, constantly evaluating their behavior. So, they're presenting as, as feral and fractious. So, we're giving them the opportunity to decompress here or at the annex, constantly evaluating their behavior. And some that we thought were completely feral have come around and they're moved back here and made available for adoption.

So our normal stray hold is 48 hours before an animal would be made available for adoption because of the [00:52:00] fire, we've made it 30 days. Because a lot of owners, they don't have housing. There's certainly a lack of pet friendly housing on the island. They're injured. They're trying to get their life together.

So 30 days and this can be made available for adoption, but they can't go off island for 90 days in total just in case there's a little bit longer. So we're coming up to that date for some of the animals. They are getting adopted, which is great, but with 250 cats left to trap and remove. We need to get the cats out of our facility so that we can make room for them.

[00:52:32] Marika: So, exactly how did they plan on making space for 250 more cats?

[00:52:38] Jenny Miller: So, we'll have specific flights mostly to Seattle and Portland, and people can see if there's any need for an animal to fly with them. There's no cost to them. All they have to do, really, is show up at the airport. Our staff will handle the check in of the animal.

Reunification and Recovery: Stories of Hope

They sign some paperwork. The TSA officers will take the animal out of the crate, make sure that there's no [00:53:00] foreign objects or bugs or anything weird. And then they get on the plane and they basically deliver the dog to the airport. There'll be somebody there waiting. So they're basically accompanying somebody.

So we'll be starting that pretty soon and Alaska is going to cover the cost on that.

Oh, beautiful. Yeah.

So we're flying only on Alaska and Hawaiian right now. It's the only two airlines that will carry animals. Because of the fires, we've had a lot more transfer partners reach out to us asking if they can help us and we would fill up every flight if we could.

[00:53:29] Marika: After all that we have covered so far. It's time to share some reunification stories. I know that this is what you've been waiting for, and we deserve this. So if you don't already have a Kleenex box out. This might be a good time.

[00:53:42] Jenny Miller: We had somebody who came in yesterday to be reunited with their cat, Gray, who was wearing a collar and bells and the trappers had seen him on the trail camp and we've got trail camps out there.

We have people reviewing it for collars or any sign of ownership. And so they [00:54:00] contacted them through Facebook where they had been posting their lost animal. They came in yesterday to be reunited and they had three cats in total and just happened to be in here. And found their other cat, their second cat.

So they were reunited with two cats. They had lost everything. Oh, amazing. They were just delighted. It was, it was a really nice, uh, opportunity for the staff too to have some positivity.

[00:54:24] Marika: We're going to be delving into the housing issues soon. But my next question for Jenny was about how MHS went about reunifying pets with their families.

If those families had lost their homes.

[00:54:36] Jenny Miller: I mean, that's a, that's the case for a lot of people. There's another organization on the island called HARF which is Hawaii Animal Rescue Foundation. And they have a really nice big property sort of out in the country. And they are taking animals and housing them while their families organize their life.

A lot of people are moving back to the mainland. A lot of people are, are putting their animals [00:55:00] with somebody, but there's no space for them, so then they're going and staying elsewhere. We've had cases where those animals are unsecure, and so the families are making tough decisions to surrender them, because they just don't have.

An option for them and they want them to have a, uh, the best chance that they can at life. So we do have animals, we have confirmed, um, owners who are deceased. Those animals are available for adoption too.

[00:55:28] Marika: Do you remember Mahina? She was discovered in the burn zone a full hundred days after the devastating fire had swept through the area.

Thanks to her microchip, Emily was able to launch a meticulous search. It was a journey that took her from the ashes of the local community right to the heart of Montana, where her family was finally reunited with the resilient Mahina. The relentless efforts of the reunification team made this possible.

So, how long did this entire process take for just one [00:56:00] cat? You might think it's a simple question, but Mahina's story underscores the depth of MHS staff commitment and the lengths they'll go to to make these families whole again.

[00:56:10] Emily Drose: Weeks, a couple of weeks, just tracking them down. And we have two reunification specialists.

And that's the thing I, I always tell the community, like, these are two people trying to track down hundreds of other people, thousands, maybe at this point. So it took several weeks just to be able to track them down and say, okay, you are in Montana. Mahina's alive. She's very much alive. And it's sending that correspondence back and forth, confirming that Mahina is who she is.

Because as you know, you can have a thousand calicos that look identical. So we're comparing photos, looking for those distinctive marks, like the little black smudge on the nose, or like, I don't know, like her, her eartip was done in a very specific way, or a tattoo, or like a little piece of fur that looks like a heart.

Conclusion Part 3

All the things that we try to do and all the hoops we jumped through to make sure Mahina was who she was. And We were able to [00:57:00] confirm with our reunification team. So then we started the process of like, where are you in Montana? Is this a permanent solution? Are you planning on coming back? Do you want to take Mahina?

And they absolutely did.

[00:57:12] Marika: 100 days in the burn zone, two weeks to track down the owners and another two to organize flights. And in mid January, 2024, Mahina was living in Montana with her family. And this is just one of the happy, fresh starts experienced by Maui's animal community. But the fresh starts are not quite as smooth for everyone.

In the next episode of Animals of the Maui Wildfires, we dive deep into the multifaceted housing crisis exacerbated by the wildfires and explore the hurdles faced by those seeking pet friendly accommodations. We investigate whether animals still roam the affected areas. We check in with Katniss, the first animal victim of the Maui wildfires.

And finally, we hear from the dedicated staff [00:58:00] members who reflect on their experiences working in the burn zone and the emotional reunifications that continue to drive their mission. 

Emily: We're not anywhere near done. And I don't think we will be for a long time. This is going to be in the years to come and it's going to affect. Our community  way, way beyond us and the next generations, like, it truly is going to change the way we look at animal welfare and the way it needs to be rewritten.

Marika: Please remember to check out the MHS donation page at the deal with animals.com. Thank you for joining me. As we ask the question, what's the deal with the animals of the Maui wildfires?

I'm your host, Marika Bell. I want to thank the staff at MHS for sharing their stories. I know it wasn't easy. The theme music for the deal with the animals was composed by Kai Stranskoff. Thank you as well to Christina Blanco, the TDWA communications volunteer. And for this series, a very special thank you to John La Sala [00:49:00] for his masterful audio engineering.

TDWA has literally never sounded better. And for this help, I would also like to dedicate the series to Boo Boo, who lived a beautiful life full of so much love and dirt and gross things to eat. You are missed. This podcast was produced on historical tribal land of the Snoqualmie, Quinault, and Waccamaw Indian nations.

For more information, go to the Snoqualmie tribes ancestral lands movement. The Deal with Animals is part of the Iroh Animal Podcast Network.