The Hawaii Wildlife Center in Kapa’au in North Kohala will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday, November 19, 2011 from 10:30am until 12:30pm, with community members invited to take part. Getting the facility open has been a multi-year effort, involving many community members and primarily its Director and Founder, Linda Elliott. The facility has been Elliot’s dream and she has spearheaded the effort to get the Hawaii Wildlife Center built.
The Hawaii Wildlife Center’s mission is to protect, conserve and aid in the recovery of Hawaii’s native wildlife through hands-on treatment, research, training, science education and cultural programs. Their focus is on Native Hawaiian birds and bats. Native Hawaiian animals are either indigenous, those that either got their on their own, or endemic, those that got here and but developed into species that are uniquely Hawaiian. The new Hawaii Wildlife Center will have the wildlife treatment facility, an interpretive lanai and an education pavilion, plus a Native Hawaiian plant garden.
Kumu Hula Raylene Ha’alelea Kawaiaea will conduct the blessing and invited dignitaries will be given the opportunity to express their support of the Hawaii Wildlife Center. Following the symbolic untying of a maile lei, Kohala Middle School students will provide tours of the facility for guests. There will be performances by haumana (students) of Kohala Hula Halau Kalaniumi Aliloa O Hawaii Nei and entertainment by Na Hoku Hanohano and Grammy award-winning slack key guitarist John Keawe.
Fundraising is ongoing for Hawaii Wildlife Center to ensure there are sufficient monies to operate, provide staffing and develop programs. Elliott says they’ll get avian patients from throughout the Hawaii archipelago, from state and federal agencies and from private individuals.
The 4,500 square foot building includes rooms for wildlife intake, holding, washing, drying, food preparation, lab work, medical treatment and isolation. The HWC’s location on just over two acres of land provides sufficient space for an outdoor Recovery Yard. Public visitation is welcomed to enhance awareness of conservation issues and challenges. The Education pavilion will be used for training, public lectures and related projects including opportunities for collaboration with the Kohala School Complex for hands on learning programs in math, science and conservation both during and after school.
The total project is worth $3.1 million. Elliott says Kohala Surety donated the land, 2.2 acres, and many generous community donors have helped make the project a reality. Because of the land donation and pro bono services from members of the construction and professional community, they only had to raise $1.4 million. They received grants from The Atherton Foundation, the Cooke Foundation, HELCO, the County, a $500,000 grant from the State of Hawaii, and from many individual donors. Elliott particularly acknowledged the support of the Dorrance Family Foundation and the Wendy P. McCall Foundation. She said the architect and engineers donated their services, and contractor Tinguely Construction not only donated services but worked with vendors and subcontractors for donations of the equivalent of $700,000 of contractor and professional services and products. Elliott says this is a true community project. She plans to have a “donor wall” at the Center to acknowledge all those who helped.
On Saturday, November 19 the Hawaii Wildlife Center becomes the first state-of-the-art response facility in the Pacific islands exclusively for native wildlife. The HWC will provide for the best achievable medical and husbandry care for sick, injured, contaminated and orphaned native wildlife, including those affected by natural and man-made disasters and by returning those successfully treated animals back to the wild.
Elliott says they’re hiring staff now. They expect to be fully operational by the end of the year.
Visit www.HawaiiWildlifeCenter.org to learn more
Hear Linda Elliott talk about the project and more
Linda Elliott Interview
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
