About the Sanctuary

Meet Our Staff

Volcano Cat Sanctuary is led by a board of directors and a caring team of ethical, responsible, passionate and experienced leaders who have vast experience in animal welfare.

• Erin Young

  CEO and Founder

  Erin founded the Volcano Cat Sanctuary in April 2024. Erin has been fostering kittens on the Island of Hawaii since 2018, and has been involved in animal rescue her whole life. Previously, Erin was involved in volunteering for trap, spay, and neuter programs, environment education programs, and no-kill animal shelters. When she moved to Hawaii in 2014, she quickly recognized the huge overpopulation of cats on the islands. She also became aware of the lack of resources to help deal with this issue, and the threat that the overpopulation of cats was having on native bird and sea mammals. She became passionate about helping to find a solution to these issues any way that she could. She decided to create a non-profit and focus on fostering kittens and building a cat sanctuary where the many homeless cats on Hawaii Island could live out their days with safety and peace.

  

• Sean Specht

  Database Systems Administator and Consultant

  Sean has been passionate about animals from a young age, spending much of his life working with and volunteering for their care. Throughout his childhood and into adulthood, he helped foster countless litters of kittens. After high school, Sean began his career as a care provider and quickly rose to operations manager at a canine care facility. During this time, he became actively involved in assisting local cat colonies through care and sterilization, driven by a strong commitment to controlling the wild feline population for the benefit of both the cats and the local wildlife. His extensive experience in trapping and handling feral cats has been invaluable in this effort." Having long harbored a dream of starting a cat sanctuary with his partner, Sean was thrilled to join Volcano Cat Sanctuary in their mission of addressing feline overpopulation in Puna through this vital resource.

  

• Rose Esteva

  Creative Director & Social Media Manager

  Rose is a long time animal lover, and animal caretaker, feeling kinship with all kinds of animals throughout their life, from the scaled to the winged to the four legged. They also have a life-long relationship of love and respect with natural ecologies, growing up backpacking in many of the different mountain and coastal regions of California, and spending summers on the wild lands of deep North Idaho. Every hike included a native plant and animal ID book. She has also been raised sitting in indigenous circles of wisdom, participating in sweat lodges since she was a small child, and being taught to treat all non-human beings with respect for their sovereignty. With an educational background in integrated studies, design, a master's degree in social work, and a lifelong relationship with all of the arts, Rose has worked in many different cultural contexts around the world, from Kibera, Kenya, to Chiapas Mexico, to East Oakland, California, where she lived for years. She has worked in crisis intervention with survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault, as a court appointed advocate for foster youth, as a curriculum consultant for cultural humility and trauma informed practice in social work, a consent educator, a clinical case worker, an educator, coach, and consultant on culturally relative and spiritually rooted practices in business, and a non-fiction writer on animist leadership. Upon moving to Hawaii, Rose founded a non-profit sanctuary with their partner, as well as a ceremonial cacao company, and runs several businesses as well as caring for approximately 40 rescue animals. Rose is honored to be able to support the animal rescue efforts of Volcano Cat Sanctuary, as one of the many hands needed to address the needs of the animals on the Big Island, both cats, and also the ecologies that are affected by them.

  

• Lora Jackson

  Sanctuary Manager

  Hi I’m Lora Jackson I have a deep passion for cats and a strong desire to create a safe and nurturing environment for them. I have worked in community service most of my life and have raised six boys. With four of them grown it now gives me the opportunity to pursue my passion. I have been fostering kittens from bottle fed to feral. It has brought great joy to our house hold being able to watch them grow or completely learn to trust and love you then passing them on to their forever home.

  

• Kellie Blair

  Weekend Caretaker

  Driven by a lifelong love for animals, I am proud to join the team at the Volcano Cat Sanctuary as a Cat Caretaker. Originally from Norco, California, I grew up on a small hobby farm surrounded by all types of animals, and my passion for them started at a very young age. This lifelong love naturally evolved into active, hands-on rescue work locally on the Big Island, where I have gained extensive experience fostering, managing a large cat colony, and assisting with trap-neuter-return (TNR) efforts to help find homeless cats safe and loving homes. Academically driven, I graduated with high honors, earning five associate degrees alongside my high school diploma before moving on to graduate from UH Hilo with a BA in Administration of Justice and a minor in Sociology in May of 2024. Since making Hawai’i Island my home in 2022, I am committed to making a positive and meaningful impact on the community by ensuring every rescue cat receives the highest level of care, comfort, and compassion.

  

• Brenda Butler

  Foster Coordinator

  Brenda was born and raised in Minneapolis, MN and for over 30 years she was a veterinary technician at several different Veterinary Hospitals. She has worked with many different types of pets from dogs and cats, to birds, snakes, iguanas and chinchillas. Brenda moved to the Big Island in November 2025 to focus on non-profit work. She shares her home with her Golden Retriever, Cashew and has a daughter, Paige, back in Minnesota. She joined Volcano Cat Sanctuary as the Foster Coordinator to help cats and kittens find their forever homes.

  

• Ben Geo

  Foster Coordinator

  Ben Geo is an artist and photographer from Hawaiʻi whose work is rooted in presence and authentic expression. With a background in animal rescue, photography, and relational facilitation, he is passionate about revealing the unique personality and spirit of every being he photographs while supporting the meaningful work of the communities he serves. When he’s not behind the camera, Ben enjoys ecstatic dance and contributing to community initiatives that cultivate resilience, sustainability, and a thriving future for the generations of Puna.