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A Refuge
of One's Own
by Doreen Hinton
Imagine being at a luau where a fat, delicious
pig is the highlight of the great feast. Imagine, too, that
as the pig is being cut, three tiny piglets fall out - of
the three, just one little piggy survives...
Imagine a delicate fawn, caught in a fence;
humans manage to disentangle her, but she stays put, crying
out for her mother to retrieve her. Alas, it's no use: her
mother never returns...
Imagine a love so profound that it prompts a
man to begin bringing home hurt and sick animals in hopes
of saving his sweetheart, who is dying of cancer. Imagine
that the sweetheart, though herself ill, nurses the animals
to health - and that it makes her happy to do so. Imagine
the man bringing home more and more animals, ever clinging
to the hope that helping sick animals will help his woman
have something to look forward to, something to live for;
he hopes that she will become well. Then imagine that it works.
Who could resist this face?
Suzie was diagnosed with cancer twenty years
ago - she came to Maui to die, but she met Sylvan Schwab instead.
Prompted by Suzie's love of animals and the genuine happiness
that caring for them seemed to bring her, Sylvan began bringing
home the sick and maimed for Suzie to take care of. As divine
providence would have it, Suzie survived the cancer and is
very much alive and well today. Out of the love that Sylvan
had for Suzie, the East Maui Animal Refuge was borne.
Everybody's got a story, and animals are no
exception. If they could speak, they might tell us about the
various ways in which we humans, either directly or indirectly,
hurt them every day. The fact is that they may have more insight
into human behavior than most of us will ever know (The stories
you just read above are all true). But, thanks to the East
Maui Animal Refuge, or EMAR, a few hundred animals could also
tell stories about love and friendship; little pigs like "Moi-moi"
and delicate fawns like "Squeaky" would tell you that they
know the true meaning of aloha.
EMAR's mission is to take in the injured and/or
orphaned wildlife of Maui and provide refuge for the animals
that the Department of Wildlife, the Humane Society, or the
Police can't take anywhere else. For many of these animals,
EMAR is salvation - the last resort. Luckily, the last resort
really is a resort, if you're an animal.
EMAR is licensed by both state and federal Departments
of Fish & Wildlife to rehabilitate and house just about any
kind of animal (uh..mongoose and snakes need not apply) and
indeed, there are more animals (aka "Boo Boo Babys") than
you can shake a stick at: cats, dogs, pigs, a variety of birds
and ducks, goats, sheep, a cow and even a deer! Everyone roams
happily and freely over the grounds of EMAR - cats sleep on
pigs, goats hang out with dogs, sheep suckle the shirts of
visiting writers...
How many cats can you find in this picture?
Have you ever fed nearly four hundred babys?
Sylvan and Suzie do it every day, beginning at 3:00a.m. It
takes about $15,000 per year to keep everyone well fed (and
if you've ever seen a wild pig, you'd know that it's no small
potatoes). Of course, everyone gets by with a little help
from their friends, especially the Boo Boo Babys. EMAR is
run entirely by donations from the public. Dr. Ronald Moyer
(of Upcountry Veterinary Services) generously donates vet
care, and a local feed store provides all that food at a discount.
Maybe it was because it was feeding time, or
maybe it was because there was a new face at the Refuge -
I don't know, but I sure made alot of new friends that day.
I learned that goats aren't mean (and that maybe it's just
because their horns look so daunting); and that over a hundred
cats, big and small, could get along (thus debunking the term,
"cat fighting"); that sheep's wool might be a little wet and
muddy on top, but if you get past the surface it's as soft
as clouds; I learned that, despite trauma, most of the animals
were still willing to seek friendship and love - even from
a stranger.
The one buddy I didn't really get to know was
"Elmer" - a lovely black and white dairy cow, who just happened
upon the Refuge some years ago and decided to stay. (No one
knows for sure why she did this, but the writer suspects that
all the noise and hoopla of the other animals sounded like
way too much fun to miss!) Funny, for all the stupidity that
we attribute to cows, Sylvan explained that, once you get
to know them, cows possess distinct personalities much like
our house pets. And, it must've been true - Elmer seemed like
she knew exactly what was going on - she even followed us
for a bit - hoping I'd interview her, too, no doubt. "I ate
meat all my life until I experienced a cow," reminisced Sylvan.
After meeting Elmer and Moi-moi, I'm not so big on this carnivore
thing, either.
During the first few moments of my visit at
EMAR, I thought of Sylvan and Suzie as the modern day Doctors
Doolittle. But, by visit's end, I realized that it is even
better than that! The love that these two people share for
each other is so abundant that it now encompasses nearly four
hundred children; they're a family. Thanks to Sylvan and Suzie
Schwab, Maui has a place for the ill, the hurt, and the unwanted
amongst us to go. Thanks to EMAR, these animals have a refuge
of their own.
The East Maui Animal Refuge always welcomes your donations
and volunteerism.
You can contact EMAR at 25 Malu Aina Place, Haiku or call:
572-8308.
Copyright © 1997 Maui Time Magazine
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