CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Servco volunteer Corrie Wong, 14, handled a carrier with one of the 200 cats to be relocated from the Sylvester Foundation to a horse ranch in Waimanalo. A good Samaritan offered use of the temporary shelter until the charity can find a permanent home for its cats, most of them abused and abandoned.

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Rescued cats
get new home

About 200 "orphan" cats move
to lodging donated after their
care home lost its lease

After months of searching for a new home for its "orphans," the Sylvester Foundation expected to finish moving 200 cats into a new temporary animal shelter today in Waimanalo.

Wet, muddy ground at the new site off the Kalanianaole Highway and a contractor who failed to install a fence Friday meant that the cats' new home wasn't finished yesterday, when 25 Servco Pacific employees and a dozen Troop 153 Boy Scouts showed up at 9 a.m. to help move cats.

So instead of transporting felines as planned, the groups cleared brush around a Quonset hut and shed, stacked lumber, moved plants and put up a shade awning for the new "cattery."

Some volunteers who had to leave at noon yesterday said they were disappointed they didn't actually get to see the cats in their new space.

But they said they were glad to help a nonprofit group that's been looking for a new base of operations since August, when its lease on state land in Waimanalo expired.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Volunteers Corrie Wong, 14, Kevin Fuentes, 11, and Samantha Lau, 14, got a visit yesterday from a dog, Summer, and cat, Whipper Snapper, while waiting for directions on moving hundreds of cats to the Sylvester Foundation's new shelter in Waimanalo.

Several attempted deals with private landowners also have fallen through.

The Waimanalo plot readied for cats yesterday is DLNR land leased by a good Samaritan who will let the foundation stay there until it finds a permanent location, said Bernice Bowers, a Sylvester Foundation board of directors member and a Servco employee.

Meanwhile, pot-bellied pigs, exotic birds, chickens and geese will go to a North Shore farm, and the foundation's eight dogs will move in with Sylvester Foundation founder Candy Lake.

Lake named the foundation after the first cat she rescued.

The all-volunteer foundation's annual budget is $65,000 to $75,000, all of which goes to animal food, care and maintenance, Lake said yesterday.

"I think of it as sort of like an orphanage for animals that may not get adopted," Lake said. "These animals have been abused and abandoned; some are sick or blind."

Bowers said a core group of 15 volunteers cares for the animals, which are kept until they are adopted or die of natural causes.

Hawaii's 900 Servco employees are encouraged, though not required, to volunteer in their communities, said Servco employee Sandra Lacar.

Servco employee Leona Fuentes said she was glad to be able to help the Sylvester Foundation yesterday. "When I first heard (last year) that they were going to have to close their facility, I said, 'How can I help the animals?'"

Boy Scout Ivann Velasco, 12, said that when he was younger he spanked the family dog, "which was an abuse," until he learned that "animals are like humans. They need to eat, be happy and need shelter and comfort." He said he was happy to help an organization whose mission is helping stray animals.

DLNR Director Peter Young said yesterday that he is "hopeful" the Sylvester Foundation's move will be completed this weekend. The foundation has stayed on DLNR land five months past its lease expiration.