One of the Most Popular Tourist Attractions on Lānaʻi is a Cat Sanctuary

Lāna‘i is a place like no other. 

On this tiny island you’ll find coffee shops that open and close when they please, a relaxed mood among residents and an idyllic cat shelter, among other things. 

Started in 2004 by Kathy Carroll, the Lāna‘i Cat Sanctuary has become one of the biggest visitor attractions on the island, and its purpose and mission—to help control Lāna‘i’s wild cat population—has remained the same. After moving to Lāna‘i with her husband, Mike, who now owns an art studio in town, Carroll quickly found herself caring for a small stray kitten. Lāna‘i didn’t have a Hawaiian Humane Society location back then—it still doesn’t—and it didn’t have a shelter of any sort, or vet to care for stray animals. So Carroll, a spirited cat lover, traveled to Maui to get her kitten the procedures it needed. 

But for her, the lack of a shelter on Lāna‘i was a concern. So she made it her mission to secure a place for her feline friends to live, and was able to convince the Four Seasons  

Lāna‘i to loan her a horse stable, where she put up deer netting and used the space as a makeshift shelter.   

In 2009, the sanctuary was moved to the plot of land it’s on now, which at the time had access to running water and not much else. However, with the aid of volunteers and other dedicated cat lovers, she was able to get the place up and running. Now, almost two decades after its start, the sanctuary has been elevated to a whole new level. Keoni Vaughn joined the team in 2014 as executive director; he helps to run operations and provides plans and strategies to increase revenue and expand the sanctuary. Since his arrival, dozens of renovations and changes have been made to the property. 

“There’s a total of 665 cats right now at the sanctuary,” says Joe Adarna, who joined the team as a sanctuary manager in 2019. “We take in, just on this small island, 150 to 200 cats a year. There are that many stray cats.” But, to the unknowing eye, the sanctuary doesn’t look crowded. Housed in two main facilities, cats can be spotted napping up in the branches, sleeping in tiny cat houses or tucked away in patches of brush. There’s ample room for them to roam, and probably hundreds of napping spots too.

Lānaʻi Cat Sanctuary is home to more than 650 cats.
Photo: Great Went

At the Lāna‘i Cat Sanctuary—which wasn’t a visitor attraction at all, at the start—visitors will find colorful outdoor signage and selfie spots, and a store full of adorable cat-related merchandise. Upon entering the sanctuary, they’re greeted by a chorus of “meows” from the greeting committee made up of cats who know that affectionate behavior up front gets them treats. If you meet one you truly adore, you can either adopt it on the spot or “sponsor” the kitty by making monthly donations to the sanctuary. In exchange for that sponsorship, you get monthly photos and updates on your favorite cat. 

Many of these moneymaking initiatives were introduced by Vaughn, who previously served as vice president of the Hawaiian Humane Society. “I feel like there’s a lot of ways for people to volunteer and get involved without even being here by donating. I mean, with a little over 3,000 people on the island, we gotta raise $1.2 million a year to keep the place running,” says Vaughn. 

On-site volunteering opportunities are also available for visitors looking to help out. And for the  volunteers, the Lāna‘i Cat Sanctuary is probably the most relaxing place to lend a hand in Hawai‘i. Volunteers help out by simply socializing with the cats, many of which come in as strays and need a little push to get them comfortable with humans. Fortunately, as they see more and more people coming in and giving treats to the sociable cats, the unsociable ones pick up on those behaviors.

Each cat has a name, and sanctuary guides are tasked with learning them all.
Photo: Great Went

Other cats, for various reasons—from medical to behavioral—are housed separately from the two main communities. Visitors can also volunteer to hang out with them, and visitors are given bags of treats and brushes to help groom some of the older, more fragile ones. 

Of course, adopting a cat and supporting the sanctuary financially is the best way to help out. “We adopt out 50 to 100 cats per year, and I like seeing our numbers staying flat or better yet, going down,” says Adarna. “It means we don’t have to keep building and expanding the sanctuary, because the best thing you can do for your cats is give them more room and spread them out.” Of course, even if some of them are never adopted, the cats at the Lāna‘i Cat Sanctuary seem more than happy to spend their days there, basking in the sun. 

The Lāna‘i Cat Sanctuary is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and admission is free. Find out more at lanaicatsanctuary.org. 

This story was originally published in the Fall 2023 issue of HAWAIʻI Magazine. Get your copy here.