New! How Waikoloa Village Can Help Support the Donkeys!

We have a wonderful opportunity to malama the Waikoloa Nightingales from our homes here in Waikoloa. No need to adopt, send large donations, donate or provide vast acreage,

We need individuals to donate food and drinks for lunch for the USHS-assisted donkey clinic on August Saturday, August 27 and Monday, August 29th. Click How to Help Page for all the details! There also a link to it near the upper right corner of this page. A driver and a few other things are useful! If you can't click the link, email waikoloanightingale@gmail.com for details. I can call you back if you include your phone number in your email.

Donkeys can Fly!

Thanks to Keahi Tucker for that line on KHNL News! The news video is in upper right corner. Teri Okita's well written story is printed, also. She did some wonderful telephone interviews.

We are almost ready to begin sending some of the Waikoloa Nightingales to a new home at a premier rescue facility, Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, in California. Eager adopters are being lined up there, already. They will all be allowed to live out their full lives.

Transportation of the highest quality is to be provided by Pacific Airlift, compliments of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The donkeys are flying to Southern California the same way a Thoroughbred horse and our finest live Kohala cattle go: with appropriate medical screening and care, a good shower, documentation, a ton of paperwork and under optimal shipping condition. They will be treated like First Class Passengers and will have a smoother trip than most of us do, what with the valet service at departure and arrival, donkey experts flying along with them to monitor them, and free gourmet meals. OK, no gourmet meals, I was making that part up. 

We continue to adopt out donkeys here in Hawai'i, so don't worry about that stopping. And we still have the goal of a donkey preserve so we can manage the herd and control it's growth.

This is thrilling news and a major milestone.

HSUS Vets are coming! August 26 - 29, 2011

The wonderful news that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is sending over a team of professionals from their HSUS Medical Associates, donkey experts all, was shared with us recently! August 26th through the 29th are scheduled. They will assist Dr. Brady Bergin, his assistants, and all the local Donkey Heroes in a big castration clinic. They will also do testing of animals that will be shipped out of Hawaii to check for Donkey diseases, and "chipping" of the donkeys with their individual information. (A microchip is implanted just under their skin,  just like pets with loving owners, so they can be identified if found.) Dr. Bergin is talking to the California State Veterinarian to find out all the information requirements that must be met.

Another big need was met earlier, when a generous donor loaned Dr. Bergin use of some near-by land with plenty of food and water to hold the donkeys. Dr. Bergin and his  has already moved 101 Nightingales there. This is the number we currently are going to have homes for in September.

With the miltiple sightings of 100+ Nightingales around the Waikoloa Road 10 mile marker  collecting still more is no problem, They probably aren't the only ones still out there. We'll have to see what's up with a fly over, or simply seeing more. Which does happen. (I love it when you let me know these things, so be sure and just say "Hi! And give me your scoops at waikoloanightingale@gmail.com..)

Update: Where Did All the Donkeys Go?

If you live here, you know, we have had a good amount of rain. This has allowed the Waikoloa Nightingale donkeys to spread out for green grasses and water. (Donkeys get a lot of water from the young grasses.) This has relieved pressure on the donkeys and they are much less of a problem on Waikoloa Road and less of an annoyance in the neighborhoods.

But they are still here, so stay alert. While the Hawaii Police Department reports no calls on donkey sightings on Waikoloa Road in May (yea!), there was a reliable anecdotal report from a tourist that they avoided a donkey right on the road a few days ago.

They are still around the Village but according to my Waikoloa reporters, they are putting less pressure on the neighborhoods. South Kohala Community Policing Officer Denise Smith-Erickson has seen one in a Waikoloa front yard, and was quite amazed. She'd heard a lot about them, but that was her first sighting, right there!

New: Mobile Viewing - Sorta

"Cell Phone Art" by Brett Rogers
(http://www.beatcanvas.com)

When you are on the go with your handy mobile device, checking Malama-Waikoloa-Nightingales.blogspot.com will now give a nice mini-view of this blog . It doesn't show the columns to the right hand side of page with all the link buttons to donate, contact other sites, the mission statement, nor the disclaimers at bottom of page. For complete functionality, best to check us from a web browser on your mobile device. That involves a lot of scrolling but will give full information.

If you experience difficulties with mobile viewing, please email waikoloanightingale@gmail.com to report your problem. This is a beta feature. Let me know what device you are using.

Update - HSUS, Capture, and Adoptions

Trapping rates have slowed considerably because the donkeys have spread out after the rains. This means HSUS has had to postpone again bringing over a team of veterinarians and assistants with donkey experience to help Dr. Brady Bergin. It will happen when we have enough donkeys.

Also, we will definitely see a capture pen come closer to the Village as soon as there is a significant uptick in reliable sightings in certain areas. It's important to continue to report sightings to Malama Waikoloa Nightingales at WaikkoloaNightingale@gmail.com. Include your address. Your name and phone help too, but where they are, when they are, and how many they are is critical to correct placing the pen where it will catch the most donkeys.

Dr. Bergin and Bird McIver of CB Horse Rescue have an ever growing outreach and new adopters all the time. I think over 300 donkeys have found nice new homes and won't be making more little donkeys to escape and allow the overpopulation to continue. Current captures have slowed.

Update: Hawaiian Horse Rescue's Work with Donkeys

I'd like to relay that the Hawaiian Horse Rescue has fostered and then adopted out over 80 of the donkeys readied by Dr. Bergin and his volunteers. (In all, well over 200 have been re-homed.) All of the donkeys have gone to loving homes right on this Island. Right now there are two mature males awaiting a new home. The Rescue gives pregnant jennies time to foal and ensures a healthy birth, provides medical care, and gives jacks a place to recover from their castrations. These two fellows are good to go.