Magical Creatures Sanctuary looks to develop community, educational programs – West Hawaii Today

Nestled in the hills of Laupahoehoe, overlooking the blue waters off the Hamakua Coast sits the Magical Creatures Sanctuary — home to over 100 abandoned, neglected and medically challenged farm animals.

Established in 2018, many of the nonprofit sanctuary’s first residents were rescued from the Kilauea eruption after being left behind as people fled during the evacuation. Now nearly a decade later, the sanctuary is committed to continuing to provide care for these animals while also increasing educational initiatives and playing a more active role in the local community.

Jill Vanderhoef, a previous volunteer at the sanctuary, recently took over as executive director from founder Helena Lundblad, who is transitioning to a more administrative role.

Vanderhoef, who has a degree in economics and management from St. Andrew’s University, is spearheading new initiatives and growth efforts as well as working to ensure the organization’s financial viability. Until recently, the organization was entirely reliant on volunteers.

“When I got involved, I saw that we needed to kind of shift gears. … If we want to really do more and not just barely make ends meet, we need to start developing more programming,” she said. “And unfortunately, or fortunately, you have to — if you want to have a sustainable sanctuary — you have to run it as a business.”

This includes plans to ramp up the sanctuary’s existing tour program as well as create educational opportunities for local students to interact with the animals.

MCS is one of only two accredited sanctuaries on the island, and the only one dedicated to farmed animals. Vanderhoef said its services are especially needed due to the abundance of feral goats, sheep and pigs.

“These animals were brought here by humans. So, the overpopulation of pigs and goats, and all of these things, this is a human-made problem. And we feel compelled to address that to the best of our ability, because they didn’t ask for this, and they don’t have predators here,” she said. “So, it’s just the nature of being on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that’s incredibly remote. The challenges for a sanctuary here are unlike anything on the mainland.”

Sanctuary Manager Gracie Atwell said the site is currently at max capacity, but there is still demand and frequent requests for its services.

“We get calls pretty much every day about animals on the island,” she said. “It’s neglect cases, it’s natural disasters, it’s just people wanting to surrender their animals that can’t take care of their animals.”

She and Vanderhoef said turning down animals is one of the hardest parts of the job, but currently necessary to be able to care for their residents with existing resources.

“When we say yes to taking in a resident, we’re not just saying, ‘OK, we’ll take this animal out of its like current situation.’ We’re saying we will feed them every single morning, every single night, until the day they pass. We will give them the hopefully most peaceful passing that we can,” Vanderhoef said.

“We will always look out for their well-being, get to know them as an individual, to figure out their likes, dislikes, making sure that they’re comfortable. It really is so much more than just that initial rescue.”

While Atwell and Vanderhoef are now full-time employees with paid positions, MCS still depends on volunteers, primarily coming from off the island, for animal care and daily operations. Vanderhoef is hoping to change this through new programs, funding models and community engagement.

“The goal for us is to develop our tour program, so we can connect more humans with animals, and they can form those relationships for themselves. But also to be able to get exposure, so we can expand, and that means hiring local people … .” she said. “There’s so much opportunity here if we can stabilize and start bringing in money to do these things then hopefully be a powerful force in the community… doing so much more than animal care.”

To get involved or donate to the sanctuary, visit www.magicalcreaturessanctuary.org.

Email Grace Inez Adams at grace.adams@hawaiitribune-herald.com.