 Healthy Planet, this show for people who care about their health and the health of our planet on the Think Tech Lifetime Network series. I'm your host Dr. Grace O'Neill. Joining me today are Ray Okawa and Dr. Juan Guerra from the Hawaii Wildlife Center. Welcome Dr. Juan and Ray. Thank you for being on the show. So first why don't you tell us, Ray, about what you guys do at the Hawaii Wildlife Center. Sure. Thank you so much for having us. You're really excited. I love talking about birds. I can talk about birds all day. So really thrilled to be here. Hawaii Wildlife Center is a conservation organization dedicated to the care and rehabilitation of all species of native winged wildlife. So as long as it's native to Hawaii and it has wings, we care for it at our facilities and our partner programs. And we're really dedicated to a world where native species thrive. So they're among us and as their populations hopefully continue to recover, we want to be able to provide a resource to allow them to thrive among us. And we want them to coexist but also thrive. And that means on the individual level, taking in sick and injured wildlife, making sure that they're healthy, making sure we address not only the primary issues but any secondary issues and making sure when we release them that they're just tip top shape and ready to be on their own in the wild. And on the same kind of the same goal on the opposite and on population levels too, you know, we want to really preserve the genetics of these populations that we're working with. And also we want to share all the information about native species and what makes them super cool and why we need to save them and, you know, get people excited about being in conservation and saving these species. That's wonderful. So you guys have a resident vet Dr. Juan Guerra. So can you tell us Dr. Juan what it's like being the veterinarian at Hawaii Wildlife Center versus like a regular vet? What kind of work you do day to day? Yeah, I mean, it's very, it's very exciting to work here at the Hawaii Wildlife Center. I mean, definitely I enjoy the everyday veterinary work and it's going to do a little bit on the side. But as far as helping wildlife, there's a certain sense that, you know, these species, a lot of them are threatened, several of them are in danger. So getting the sense that I can put the skills that I've earned in vet school to help this cause, it feels really good. So how did you start getting interested in birds and bats and doing the kind of work you do? Did you always know you wanted to do this kind of work versus being a veterinarian for pets or like a zoo vet? Was there like a specialty for this kind of thing? No, my, you know, I would start out by saying I'm actually very lucky. There's definitely a lot of veterinary students that would love to do what I'm doing and that's one of the things that we do. We get vet students here to help them get the experience that you need. But in vet school, usually in most places you learn a little bit about all the species. And just for fun, I ended up taking classes on avian anatomy and medicine and it was kind of just like a side interest of mine. And then when I moved to the big island in 2016, I was working in mixed animal practice in Waimea. And then I got recruited by the Wildlife Center to be their primary care volunteer veterinarian at the time. I didn't really necessarily feel qualified at the time. But they knew that I had taken classes and have gone to conferences. And that's how it started. And I kept on continuing to try to get experience on my own by going to conferences, helping out at the Wildlife Center. And then eventually a position opened up here. And that's my main job at the moment. Wonderful. So how about you, Ray? You're the development director. So do you mostly focus on education of the, you know, just children, just meet, you know, people about Hawaii wildlife or what is your focus at the Center? I would say I'm the staff partner. As the development director, I actually, my primary function is to make sure that we have the funding and partnerships in place available to keep our doors open. But I'm primarily like, I, by training, I'm a field biologist, turn fundraiser. I kind of miss being on the field sometimes, but, you know, seeing the impact of the funds that I'm able to bring in and how that's helping wildlife, that's, that's the reward. But I'm born and raised on Oahu, still have family in IAEA. And, you know, growing up, I would see a lot of birds, you know, and looking at them and trying to figure out where they're from and finding out that most of the birds that I was seeing were introduced and that kind of sparked the interest on, you know, what, well, what actually is native. And I remember I was in the car with my grandma one day and I just like off the cuff, I think it was in like middle school, late middle school, early high school. And I'm like, I wish I could just study birds. And I just said, just read me. And my grandma told me like, Oh, well, ornithology is a thing. And then, yeah, it just, it just grew from there. I went to get my master's on the, on the continent, but I knew I wanted to come home to Hawaii. So it's really fortunate to connect with Linda, our center director and founder of the organization. And she gave me an opportunity to come home and work in conservation with birds. So I am also extremely lucky and grateful. Nice. So I guess you had mentioned before about the native birds and not knowing which ones are native, because a lot of them are introduced. So can you kind of tell us which birds are native? And you have some pictures as well, so we can run through those. I do. Yeah. So it really depends on where in Hawaii you're located to, you know, what's in your area. But one on Oahu that's pretty common, that's pretty spectacular is the Manuoku, the white turn. And they have such a following. They're such charismatic birds. You know, it's so rare to see native sea birds thriving in downtown Honolulu or flying through Chinatown. So seeing that is really a unique thing. And it kind of shows that there is hope too for species, native species to thrive among us. And if we just take the time to learn their life histories and what makes them so cool, it's really a great tool for conservation. Okay, so these birds are really cool. They do not make nests. So when it's time to have their babies lay their eggs, they find a really nice, latter-cuped branch, and they just plop that egg right on the branch. And as soon as that baby hatches, it just has to hang on. So if there are high wind storms or as a case of happy feet, you know, sometimes they'll fall out of the tree. And luckily there is a really great citizen group, the Hui Manuoku, that works very hard to get these babies back to the parents because the parents always know best and know how to raise their chicks. But in the cases where the chick is injured or unable to be reunited, we do take those babies and raise them here and then send them back to Oahu for what we call a soft release. These guys get a soft release. Hard releases are like what you typically see. You bring a bird to the beach, you release them, you say, good luck, you know, and that's it. After Manuoku, they need to learn how to be a bird and they need to do that from their peers because we can't teach them that. So we send them to Oahu. We have a satellite facility there. We work with the Honolulu Zoo. They have a soft release tree. They put the baby in with wild turns around them and then they'll go out and they'll learn from their peers how to be a proper turn. We provide snacks, part of this program, but once they're like fully sufficient, they don't need our help anymore. They don't need our snacks and they stop coming back. Good. What kind of snacks? Like what do they eat? Fish. Little, usually we do little snows. So what kind of injuries do you see on these birds, Dr. Wan? Specifically the Manuoku. The Manuoku first. Yeah, with Manuoku and it depends on the species. That's why I was asking. With Manuoku, thankfully most of them are healthy orphans. We're just not able to reunite them with their parents. So the process is, you know, it's still a lot of work, many days, maybe many feedings per day, but usually no medical issues that we have to deal with. Occasionally they do come with some intestinal parasites that we have to take care of. And then a couple of times there are injuries from falling down from the tree that we have to work with either whether it's an injured wing or an injured leg. So those would be the most common things for Manuoku. How about the other birds? What kind of injuries do you work with on the other birds? Yeah, for other birds, for example, Onooku, we also get several red-footed rubies as well as brown rubies. Those ones tend to be more collision injuries. They're flying around and they'll hit something. It can be anything, either a building, a power line. We even once had a bird that hit a windsurfer while they were out in the water and the windsurfer was okay and eventually the ruby got released so everything was okay. So those can be just soft tissue injuries, an area of swelling in the wings. Sometimes it can be a cut that we have to suture and sometimes more severely we have fracture, etc. So those would be the injuries that we see with rubies. Here on the Big Island with Nene, those ones also tend to be trauma-related. Usually collision with something, either hit by car. Occasionally we get predator injuries where they'll get attacked by a predator and they may have an infection that we may have to deal with. Predators do they have? I didn't realize they have predators. Well, oh, predators. You know, here on the Big Island it's probably going to be mainly mongoose and cats that might go after them. Then they are usually big enough where they can vent for themselves. So what we tend to see more with Nene is that they'll have puncture wounds and then those wounds will get infected from the bacteria in the mouth. So we've seen that sometimes. And yeah, and we have many other species. Eo, the main problems with them. Again, it's going to be Hawaiian hawk collisions. So they'll either hit something, they'll hit a window or a building. Unfortunately, some of them are also have also been shot by people. So we are trying to raise awareness of, you know, why these birds are important and they're not pests and we should like to live with them. So those are some examples that we can do and see. Are they hunters that shoot them for food? I mean, I don't really understand why anybody would. I mean, I guess it's hard to know. On our end, we mostly find out by x-rays and we see metal sharks and sometimes we find bullets. I know that the Division of Forestry and Wildlife, we provide all the information to them for them to look into why the birds are being shot. Is there a penalty for that? If it's an endangered species, a native bird? Yes, yes. There is. I mean, even if it wasn't classified as an endangered species, they're still covered under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. So shooting any, you know, native species is illegal. And what, what kind of penalty is that? Is there a fine? Or is it jail time? I mean, it depends on severity. Then that's really up to law enforcement, but it's usually pretty hefty if you're found guilty of this. I mean, people should, you know, should be some kind of penalty or else people are just going to do what they want, you know. So let's go through some of the other pictures so you can tell us about some of the other native birds if you can run through the other slides. Yeah. So, yeah, we're, these are our wedge-till-shear waters and, you know, they're, they're on the pull, they're from fallout. And we really want to, again, we want to make sure that they're in healthy, you know, tip-top shape. So not only does that mean the physical injuries or any issues, neurological trauma, all of that is rectified, we want to make sure that they're behaving like normal birds. So we have a whole checklist of criteria that the bird needs to pass or the patient needs to pass before we actually release them. And then this is our Pueo. So we do get a lot of hawks and owls, and it's been increasing. For these guys, mostly they're affected by barbed wire entanglement for sure, and also rodenticide poisoning. So if you're using rodent poisons that are not wildlife safe, our hawks and owls, you know, they look, who doesn't like an easy meal? So, I mean, poison rodents are very slow, lethargic, super easy to catch. And then as a result, our hawks and owls are essentially just gorging on these rat poisoned rodents, and they get sick themselves. That's too bad. So what do you do for that kind of like that, you know, in human medicine, we would, you know, maybe give them like some activated charcoal or like, I mean, I don't know if you would do a gastric lavash. What do you do for an owl that's poisoned? You know, you kind of mentioned some of the things that can be done, and it's pretty much the same in birds or in other species. So activated charcoal is one of the options. Stomach lavash is another that's going to be more when whatever animal has seen the toxin, and it's still within a few hours that you can get it out, the activated charcoal prevent the absorption of whatever's still in the animal that you can't get out through a gastric lavash. The majority of these birds, though, they have been out there for an unknown period of time. And most of the time it's already been at least a day or two before they actually get symptoms and we actually get them. So at that point, usually those options are won't really work. With rodenticide poisoning, there's really the main one that we deal with and that we can do something about it is the anti-coagulation rodenticides, and those ones we have to supplement with vitamin K. So if we have an owl or an eel that is suspected for rodenticide poisoning, we will go ahead and start them on vitamin K. Depending on the type of rodenticide, it can stay in their system for a few days or even up to several weeks. So usually we don't know what they ingested. So we go ahead and keep them on vitamin K for a couple of weeks. So how do you suggest, I mean, people get rid of, you know, I know people might be thinking, well, how am I going to get rid of these rats around my house or whatever? Do you suggest they use traps? Like I guess, how do you suggest people do that so they don't give them these rodenticides that could be dangerous to these birds? We control for rodents at our facility as well because it's one of the measures that we take to protect our patients. We do use traps. There's humane traps, especially the ones that are used out in the field. They're lethal, but there's no suffering. And there's also wildlife safe rodent bait out there as well. So it really just comes down to doing some research before you decide on sort of a protocol for your own rodent control, whether it's wildlife safe and humane. And where do these owls hang out? I mean, maybe I just haven't known what to look for. I mean, how big are they? Where do they hang out? Pueo. They tend to be diurnal hunters. So they will be hunting during the daytime as opposed to, you know, the owls in the mainland that will tend to hunt at nighttime. So at least here, I can really only speak about the big islands. This is where I'm most familiar with. But they like to hang out and open in open grassland areas. So if you go towards Waimea and Saddle Road, you will see them hunting usually in the middle of the day, sometimes a little bit closer to dusk. So that tends to be the area where I see them the most here on the big island. Every island we have, it probably would be similar in Oahu where there's also whale. Yeah, their tendencies are similar. Oahu is definitely more challenging. They are state listed as an endangered species on Oahu. So they're not as easy to see as they are here. So let's go through some of the other pictures you have, you know. This is. So this is the sheer water going through a wash. And, you know, again, it's we really want to make sure that the bird is able to survive on its own. And for seabirds, waterproofing is super important for their ability to survive on the ocean. So if the bird comes in contaminated, we need to clean that bird up. Even if it's not, you know, petroleum based, if it's just like dried blood or dirt or fish oils from what they ate in care, we want to make sure that all of that is gone before we release them because we want to give them the best chance once they are free and on their own. Yeah, and this is a naining care. And this kind of highlights sort of our main wildlife programs. So here at our Kapa'au facility, we have a wildlife hospital and a rehabilitation center and that they kind of work hand in hand. So the hospital does all the veterinary care for, you know, fixed bones, make sure the illnesses are cared for. The rehabilitation side is also very important and it's different from wildlife medicine because now you're looking at behavior, you're like, it's like when you break a bone and you have to go to physical therapy afterwards, it's kind of like, yeah, together, they make the complete regimen. So we have our physical therapy, you know, monitoring behavior, monitoring muscle mass, making sure they're exercising sometimes begrudgingly, but, you know, making sure that that bird is strong and able to go. We're also built for emergency response. So that means oil spills, contaminants spills, any kind of, you know, mass event that needs an emergency responder for wildlife, we are built for that. And we are a statewide resource. So we right now we have birds from pretty all the islands, I would say almost. So we're always getting birds from Oahu, we'll get birds from Maui. We have our partners save our sheer waters on Kaua'i, but we'll help them out sometimes. So we are built for the entire state of Kaua'i and part of that requires stabilization satellites. So we do have a satellite on Oahu and we have partners on Lina'i that help with stabilization of the patient, making sure that they're medically okay to transport. And then once we do that, we bring them here. And they are flown by a plane, I guess over to the big island. Yes, they are. We fly a lot of birds sometimes commercially, sometimes with volunteer pilots. The US Coast Guard Auxiliary has flown for us before. We have a new volunteer pilot that just like put his plane together and is super excited to be like air bird Uber. So it's really, it's really great. And he's excited and we're excited to have him. So, you know, it's all about rallying community to get these birds healthy and back out. So let's go on then. I don't want to waste any time. Sure. Yeah. So this is Hawaii Kea. It's a white tailed traffic bird. And this is an example of a contamination event that's not petroleum based. So we do get contaminated birds that come in contaminated, not by oil. And this bird, unfortunately, was found in sewage. You could tell by the smell. This wildlife rehabilitation is not a glamorous job. Like a lot of people think it is, but we deal with a lot of poop. We deal with a lot of, you know, savage. So, you know, it's, it was a sewage bird. And luckily, you know, nothing else was wrong with it. We were able to get it washed. It was in care for a very short time. And it was a successful release. How did it get in sewage? I'm curious. I don't know. These birds get into trouble a lot. We've also got muddy ones. It really is sewage, like just in the sewage plant? Or I mean, how birds love the wastewater treatment plant, like the wastewater treatment plant here in Kona is a birding hotspot. Why? I mean, maybe because of the water, you know, it's like, it's a wellage. Birds are around us and they utilize the environment how they can. And Dr. Wang, can they get some diseases from humans from swimming in the sewage? I'm sure that's not really good for them. Yeah, for sure. They're, they're very, I mean, all things considered, they're very party, but for sure they can get gastrointestinal issues, if they eat something rotten. And, you know, out in nature, they can get poxins like botulism. But for sure, it's a possibility. But yeah, they, they do make the best of it as far as this artificial wetlands with the wastewater treatment plant. Mm-hmm. I mean, I know like avian flu, right? That comes from a bird. So I mean, they must be able to get even stuff like that, like COVID. I mean, I don't know, I'm assuming birds can get COVID too, other mammals do. So maybe from the sewage and it is, it's excreted in the sewage and everything. So definitely it's not good. Okay, we can go on to the next slide. I want to. Yeah, that's the traffic bird being released. And actually, could we go to the pool picture with all the shearwaters in it? Yeah, that one. So that is from seabird fallout season. Usually it's the peak every November, December. And during this time, the young wedge-till shearwaters are taking their first flight out to sea. And the way that they've evolved is they know how to, they know where to go because they follow the light of the moon. But now if you think, you know, of Oahu, especially, it's like the light of the moon is no longer the brightest thing in the sky. So while they're heading, you know, we're finding them all over in parking lots, drives through, you know, garages. So we, we've been running a program called Oahu Seabird Aid since 2017, I believe. And our job, our main job is to get the down seabirds on Oahu, you know, picked up, examined and get back out to sea. So it's usually a really quick turnaround. And during that time, we are at like our peak season of birds. Normally, we're getting maybe one or two a day during seabird fallout season. It's like 50 a day. Yeah, during that one month span, we get over 600 birds. So it's kind of all hands on deck on Oahu during that time. Wow. So let's go to the bat because I don't want to miss the one. So tell us about the bat one. What's going on with this bat? Yeah, this one, this one, I believe had, you know, it's hard to know. We don't know for sure, but he had some sort of an injury that he couldn't fly well. During the first couple of days, no fractures, thankfully, but just couldn't fly. And then afterwards, as the bat got better, when we did flight testing, which means taking it out to one of the aviaries and seeing what it can do in a big open space, it would kind of do this sports doing type of a flight. So it likely had some sort of neurologic issue, like maybe head trauma, took a couple weeks, eventually improved, and then was able to be released. And how many bat species does Hawaii have? Right, because I don't know. We have one species of bat, the opea pea, the Hawaiian Hori bat. And for us, it's a very rare patient too. We usually get one, maybe two a year. Last year, for some reason, we had five, but with the amount of bats we get every year, we can still count on one hand. But I always like to include them, because we talk about birds a lot. Most of our patients, we had 905 patients. Last year, the total and five of them were bats. So most of our patients are birds, but I always want to include a shout out to the bat, because they're really cool species. They're our only native land mammal. And a lot of times, you'll see pictures in the media or whatever, and it looks so scary. And like, no, they're really cute. So I want to continue to get cute pictures of bats out there. That's like my ulterior motive. Absolutely. People don't realize how good bats are. So unfortunately, we're out of time, so we have to wrap it up now. I'm Dr. Grace O'Neill. This is Healthy Pen on the Think Tech livestreaming network series. We've been talking with Dr. Wang Guara and Ray Okawa from the Hawaii Wildlife Center. Thanks to Michael O'Brock as engineer and the rest of the crew at Think Tech for hosting our show, and thanks to you, our listeners for listing. I'll see you in two weeks for more of Healthy Planet on Think Tech, the show for people who care about their health and the health of our planet. My next guest will be Dorae Shin from the Good Food Movement. If you have ideas for the show or questions for my future show guests, please contact me at HealthyPlanetThinkTech at gmail.com. Check out my website at GraceInHawaii.com or Instagram at GracefulLiving365 for more information on my projects, including future show guests. I'm Dr. Grace O'Neill. Aloha everyone. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on YouTube. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Check out our website, thinktechawaii.com. Mahalo.