Micro-sanctuary for rescued animals. Seeking land to expand to our forever home. Sharing about compassion for animals, veganic permaculture & sustainable living.

We seek land for a sanctuary for rescued animals where we'll also share with people about compassion for animals, vegan permaculture and sustainable living.

I'm seeking land for an animal sanctuary in Hawaii. Currently I'm facilitating a small sanctuary with tortoises & rabbits, and my vision is to find land where I can expand to include other animals. I'd like the land to be donated, but am open to lease-to-own land or another option. I'd most appreciate a large donation so I can purchase the title to a 20-acre property I've found which would be perfect for the animals. At the minimum I need an acre for a small tortoise sanctuary.

This idea was first inspired by the need my tortoises have for a permanent home, and my vision has grown to include other rescued animals. At this time I have 9 Sulcata, or African spurred tortoises, ranging in age from 3 to 21 years, as well as a Red-footed tortoise. I've been caring for these wise, gentle creatures for 13 years now, since the 2 21-year-olds were 8 and I found them in a pet store, unable to even shift their bodies around in the terrarium they were trapped in.

Sulcata tortoises are on the list of endangered species, which makes it even more necessary to create sanctuaries for them. They are the third-largest species of tortoise in the world, and can weigh 100-200 pounds or more when fully grown. Their lifespan is generally about 50-150 years, but they can live much longer.

Lani Ma 'Aina Animal Sanctuary (meaning in Hawaiian "Heaven on Earth") will be a sanctuary filled with many varieties of mostly edible plants, grasses, herbs, flowers, and trees, and all the animals will have ample space to roam. We will be implementing vegan permaculture, a way of sustainable living which is compassionate to animals and harmonious with the Earth. Permaculture is a whole-systems approach to living with the land, one which utilizes the features, patterns and relationships of the existing eco-system, and imitates those we observe in nature. Permaculture creates systems that are as self-sustaining as possible, recycling and reusing resources, conserving energy, and transforming humans from consumers within a large society into homesteaders who are active co-creators with nature, meeting many (and ultimately most or all) of their own needs at home. Many permacultural practices include the use of animals, but, as a vegan animal rights activist, I don't agree with using animals for our own purposes. However, I did discover, in my caring for the tortoises (and now rabbits) that they naturally give offerings that benefit the environment: their poop! I compost it and use it in the garden, to grow the food the tortoises and rabbits (and humans!) eat. This self-sustainable cycle is the kind that permaculture seeks to create. I've found several of these with the tortoises and rabbits. Another one is this: I rake up grass clippings for the rabbits' bedding, and when it's ready to be replaced, I bring it to the garden and mulch with it. So vegan permaculture, then, is permaculture that respects animals in their natural environment and does not interfere with them but lives symbiotically with them.

I have 17 years of experience as a gardener and permaculturist landscape artist with a wide range of knowledge in growing food, trees, and medicinal herbs. In fact, I envision that the sanctuary will also serve as a botanical preserve reminiscent of the Garden of Eden.

I plan to put the land in a trust so that it can never be sold and will always be home to the animals and to whoever caretakes them and the land.