About the Sanctuary

Long before Volcano Cat Sanctuary existed, there was a little girl who could rarely be found without a cat in her arms.

She volunteered at animal shelters, fostered kittens whenever she could, and grew up believing something that has never changed: every animal deserves compassion, safety, and a chance to be loved. Caring for cats was never a hobby. It was simply part of who she was.

Years later, that lifelong love brought her to Hawaiʻi Island.

Less than a year after moving there, she was driving home when she noticed two tiny kittens playing on the side of the road, chasing bugs as cars passed by. She pulled over, picked them up, and brought them home. Like so many rescue stories, it seemed like a chance encounter. But it wasn’t.

Within months, two more abandoned cats appeared on her property. Four cats quickly became the beginning of something much larger.

As she settled into life on Hawaiʻi Island, one heartbreaking truth became impossible to ignore. Cats were everywhere.

People moved away and left beloved pets behind because they couldn’t afford to take them. Unaltered cats produced litter after litter of kittens. Friendly cats became abandoned. Feral colonies grew larger each year. Volunteers did everything they could, yet the need never seemed to shrink.

She began fostering kittens for the Hawaiʻi Island Humane Society. Later, a friend asked for help managing a colony at a well-known dumping site where unwanted cats were routinely abandoned. Every week brought another litter of kittens or abandoned cats. Every week brought another story of cats left to survive on their own.

The kittens could often be saved.

The adults were another story.

She spent countless hours feeding colonies, trapping cats, paying for supplies, fostering kittens, and searching for adopters. Every successful adoption felt like a victory. Every kitten placed into a loving home reminded her why the work mattered.

But every evening she left the colony behind, she wondered about the cats that remained.

Where would they sleep when the rain came?

How many would become sick before anyone noticed?

How many would never know what it felt like to be safe?

She couldn’t stop thinking about them.

Slowly, a different dream began to take shape.

What if there were a place where these cats could simply live?

A place with dry shelter instead of muddy ground. Fresh water instead of puddles. Soft beds instead of bushes. Medical care instead of suffering. Safety instead of fear.

Not every cat could become a house pet.

But every cat deserved dignity.

Then came the cat she would never forget.

A beautiful gray adolescent cat appeared at the dumping grounds. Several people tried to rescue her. They returned again and again, hoping to earn her trust.

Each time she disappeared.

Then one day the news spread through the rescue community.

The gray cat had been found dead.

Someone had shot her with a BB gun.

For many people, it would have been another tragic story among countless others.

For Erin, it became the moment everything changed.

Rescuing individual cats was no longer enough.

The island needed a permanent solution for cats that had nowhere else to go.

That realization became Volcano Cat Sanctuary.

Starting a nonprofit was never part of the plan. Learning about fundraising, construction, permits, insurance, and nonprofit management certainly wasn’t either. But the vision was stronger than the uncertainty. One rescue became ten. Ten became one hundred. Then hundreds more.

In just two years, Volcano Cat Sanctuary has rescued more than 450 cats, helped 150 owned cats receive spay and neuter services, and found loving homes for 400 cats. Today, dozens more remain in foster homes and at the sanctuary while they receive medical care, rehabilitation, or simply wait for the family that will finally choose them.

Some stories are impossible to forget.

One kitten arrived covered in fleas, suffering from ringworm, severely dehydrated, dangerously underweight, and struggling to survive. Her littermate did not make it. But she did.

The team named her Miracle.

Despite losing an eye and enduring months of treatment, Miracle recovered. She was eventually adopted alongside her brother, Winky, into a loving home where both now live safe, healthy lives.

Miracle represents everything Volcano Cat Sanctuary believes.

Not every life begins with hope. But every life deserves the chance to find it.

Yet Volcano Cat Sanctuary was never created simply to rescue one more kitten. It was created because adoption alone cannot solve Hawaiʻi Island’s cat crisis.

On an island already overwhelmed with homeless cats, finding homes is extraordinarily difficult. Even healthy adult cats may wait months or years for adoption. Many kittens grow into adulthood while waiting. Feral cats, despite being healthy and capable of living peaceful lives, are rarely candidates for adoption at all.

Organizations that transport cats to the mainland provide an invaluable service, but they are limited by funding, volunteer flight escorts, and available space. They can help some cats—but not all.

That led to a question few people were asking:

If a cat cannot safely live on the streets, and cannot realistically be adopted, where should that cat go?

Volcano Cat Sanctuary exists to answer that question.

The sanctuary is not intended to replace adoption programs, foster networks, or spay-and-neuter efforts. Those remain essential. Instead, it fills a critical gap by providing a permanent home for cats that have nowhere else to go while supporting broader efforts to reduce the free-roaming cat population over time.

The vision extends beyond cats alone.

A healthier future for Hawaiʻi Island means fewer abandoned animals, fewer unmanaged colonies, stronger support for responsible pet ownership, and healthier native wildlife. Humane care for cats and conservation of Hawaiʻi’s unique ecosystem do not have to be opposing goals. Lasting solutions require compassion, science, collaboration, and the willingness to invest in infrastructure that has never existed before.

Today, Volcano Cat Sanctuary is still under construction, but the dream has already begun to take shape.

One day, visitors will walk through shaded pathways where cats roam safely among trees and gardens. Children will laugh as they feed treats to cats from designated viewing areas. Families will linger over coffee while watching animals that, years earlier, might have died alone in a dumping ground. Volunteers, veterinarians, educators, and visitors will all become part of a community built around compassion.

The hope does not stop there.

The long-term vision is a network of sanctuaries across Hawaiʻi Island—places that work alongside rescue organizations, foster programs, veterinarians, and conservation partners to create a future where far fewer cats are abandoned and far more live in safety.

Volcano Cat Sanctuary was never built because one person believed she could solve Hawaiʻi Island’s cat crisis alone.

It was built because one person looked at a problem that seemed impossible, believed the island deserved a better answer, and decided to begin building it.