Diaz Dixon:
Welcome to another episode of People, Pets, and Purpose, our interview series about the human-animal bond, and what really matters. I'm Diaz Dixon, the Maddie's Advisor for External Affairs and Partnerships for the Human Animal Support Services project. Today, I have a super special guest. I think for most of you guys out there who know me well, you know I'm a total bird nerd. So I got even more excited when I found out that our guest, Maya Higa, who, if you've ever spent any time on Twitch or YouTube, she probably needs no introduction at all. She is one of the world's most followed live streamers, and literally hundreds of thousands of people watch and interact with her. Well, the incredible thing is that Maya is using her amazing platform for, that she's built, it's really to make this world better, better for animals. In her early 20s, she founded the sanctuary for wildlife, and pet rescue from the exotic trade, animal trade. She hosts a podcast about wildlife, and animals. And she brings conservation awareness to a younger generation, which is really cool, because you know, we always have to craft a message, so we have as many people listening as possible. She's raised a tremendous amount of money for different animal organizations as well, including our very own Austin Pets Alive!, where she streamed an in-person visit a few months ago to raise over seven grand, while also raising awareness about APA! dogs and cats in the life-saving programs that they have. Maya, it is a huge pleasure to have you on the pod today. Thank you for being here.
Maya Higa:
Yeah, of course. Thanks for the introduction. I'm
Diaz Dixon:
Very cool. You know, I'm so impressed with the happy to be here. advocacy that you're doing. You know, it's not something that everyone understands how to do. It's not something that everyone can be passionate about doing. How did you know, or did you always know, that this is something you've wanted to do?
Maya Higa:
Absolutely not. Well, not the, not the online portion. So I grew up on a farm in California, I went to school for agriculture. And so I've always cared about sustainability. I wanted to do journalism and sustainability in the ag industry, but also I missed being around animals when I went off to college because I grew up around them. So I started volunteering at zoos, interning at zoos. And that's when I started conservation education. And I was going out to schools, and I had the safari hat and the outfit, you know, and you go to kids birthday parties, and you're like, "This is my snake. She's my friend." So I would do that in college. And I fell in love with it, because every new species that I met, I thought was so cool, and I was just obsessed with and I was like, wow, there are millions and millions and millions of species that I have not met that I love. And then also in working in a zoo learning that millions and millions of those species I will never met, or I will never meet, because they'll go extinct before I have a chance. And so, I really started caring about conservation education in college, and became a falconer in college as well. So you love birds. I love birds. I started rehabbing a red-tailed hawk out there in California, and started live streaming in 2019. I was talking about my bird that I was rehabbing on a live stream and then a clip from that went viral. And then I just took what I was doing in person, traditional conservation education, and started doing it online. So, I always knew I want to do something with animals and with sustainability; I just didn't think it would look like this, I guess.
Diaz Dixon:
What a great path, you know, because we can go and do stuff that's having an impact on the world, but it's something that you're passionate about. So it's not even really work. What kind of farm did you grow up on?
Maya Higa:
Just a hobby farm. Nothing, nothing commercial. We didn't sell any products just had a ton of rescued rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, pigs, sheep, goats horses...um, yeah.
Diaz Dixon:
That's pretty cool. And it was out in Northern In the Bay Area. I know there's a lot of farm areas California?
Maya Higa:
Mmhmm, in Northern California, in the Bay Area. all around out there. Wow. Well, when did you know that animals was your gig? Like this, was this something like at an early, early, young age that hit you? It was yeah, I grew up around them. I started riding horses when I was four. And that was my first animal obsession was, was horses. I still have a horse that I brought to Texas with me, but started very early. So it's always been, it's always been animals for me.
Diaz Dixon:
Very cool. I'm assuming you ride Western?
Maya Higa:
Yes.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay. Very cool. Is it a Quarter Horse?
Maya Higa:
No, he's a Mustang, actually.
Diaz Dixon:
Oh! A Mustang! Even more impressive. That's super cool. Well, I know you said you were trying to build into some awareness around conservation with the younger generation. That's been your task. What are you doing to teach these guys? What are you doing to pull them in? And do you think it's working?
Maya Higa:
Yeah, it's all across the board. So, I guess, Alveus as a whole, my organization, the sanctuary that I run out here in Austin, Texas, is a sanctuary and virtual Conservation Education Center. So we rescue animals from all over the place. We got crows from a rehab center in Central Texas that are non-releasable...because they're imprinted on people, so they don't know how to take care of themselves. We have foxes that were confiscated from the illegal pet trade in California. We have monkeys that were rescued from a neglect case in Austin, they were somebody's pet. And so they come from all over the place. And they come here and we take care of them. And we livestream their care and what our day-to-day looks like, and then each of them kind of has a purpose as an ambassador, so I can teach people about a certain industry. So we have the foxes and the chinchillas, so I can teach people about the fur industry, and how that exploits animals. We have those marmosets and parrots to teach people about the pet industry and how the exotic pet industry exploits animals. We have donkeys, and donkeys are used in traditional Chinese medicine, and so I talk about medicine and animal products in medicine and cosmetics. And so it is all over the place. I teach people about a lot of different industries, and how to use their consumer choice to affect those industries. And just about the animals as a whole. I think the goal is really to get people to fall in love with our individual ambassadors, so they care about the species as a whole. And so there's a lot of connection building with the animals and the viewers and yeah, it's across the board.
Diaz Dixon:
That's truly amazing. Especially when you have such a wide array of educational opportunities that are out there. How are you able to keep up? You know, I'm just listening to you right there, you just name 10 different species. There's so much that goes into the care of each and every one of those. It's so different from one to the next. How are you able to keep up with all of that?
Maya Higa:
We have exceptional staff. We have five animal care staff, and they all have tons of experience from different organizations around the U.S. And so they, they come with different knowledge. And they also learn a lot about the animals that we have here and how to take the best care of them possible. So we have three animal care staff, specifically, so they do the cleaning and the feeding, and they do enrichment for our animals here. And then we have a couple other staff that help manage the online portion of everything.
Diaz Dixon:
Amazing. How big is your property?
Maya Higa:
15 acres.
Diaz Dixon:
Awesome. And what inspired you? Like, what was the big key inspiration to founding an animal sanctuary?
Maya Higa:
So it started with the falconer thing online, right? So I was rehabilitating a red-tailed hawk. And his name was Bean. And I showed him on stream and I showed a lot of his rehabilitation process. So they were seeing short flights, they were seeing long flights, and they eventually saw his whole release, as well, into the wild, back into the wild. And that experience as a whole, I mean, people were making fan art of this bird, they wanted merch of this bird, like, they loved him. And seeing that on such a large, global scale, because when you're online, you can teach people that are in the U.K. and people that are in Brazil, and whatever. And seeing what I was doing in person in a classroom full of kids, you know, you kind of see their eyes light up when they like an animal or they learn something and that's very special. But seeing it on such a large global scale, I was like,"This is, I gotta do this. And I have to do it for as many animals as I can until I die." So that's where it started.
Diaz Dixon:
That is awesome. For those of you guys who are listening in, you can't see Maya right now, but I can tell you she wears a big cape. So we've got a hero out here. I love it. I love it. And, do I have it right that off the ground, with a 24 hour livestream, you raised a half a million dollars to get this started?
Maya Higa:
Yeah, I think it was 573,000. It was in 21 hours, it was crazy. Craziest 21 hours of my life.
Diaz Dixon:
And you were awake for that whole 21 hours?
Maya Higa:
Yes. Yeah.
Diaz Dixon:
Oh, that is pretty awesome. So next time I have something going, I need to give you a call and bring you in for 24 hours.
Maya Higa:
Yeah, that's all it takes. I just gotta be there.
Diaz Dixon:
Oh, that is so awesome. How many animals do you have right now, currently?
Maya Higa:
We have around 30, not including our insects. If you include all the insects we have, we have hundreds.
Diaz Dixon:
You have insects, as well?
Maya Higa:
Lots. Yeah, we have two species of isopods, so, like, roly-polies. We have Madagascar hissing co*ckroaches, we have millipedes, we have scorpions. Invertebrate conservation is super important to me, as well. Invertebrates are really important for all ecosystems around the world. They're the basis of all of it, so they do our pollination, they do decomposing, you know, they do natural pest control services because there are carnivorous insects. And so I like to teach people about bugs because most people don't like bugs. And so that's also something I'm really passionate about.
Diaz Dixon:
That's super cool. Well, I know that they're not imprinting, so you're not keeping them and hanging on to them because you can't release them. What is the, how does it look, as you're holding onto these, these insects? What is that process?
Maya Higa:
So the co*ckroaches that we have, for example, we have Madagascar hissing co*ckroaches. They're big, they're like three inches long. And we got them from an educational colony in Philadelphia. So a friend of mine, who was on my podcast you mentioned earlier, she works in a classroom. And so she had a colony for her classroom to teach her students, and they're super prolific. And so she had a lot of extra ones, and so she ships them to me. And so we keep them here. And they have the same function as all of the other animals on the property. They have names. They're ambassadors for invertebrate conservation.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay, great. Great. Now, are there special restrictions that you have, particularly when you're dealing with species that are not native to Texas?
Maya Higa:
Yes, yeah. We have permitting through Texas Parks and Wildlife and USDA and US Fish and Wildlife. So all of the animals come with different permitting requirements. Some of them don't, actually, our insects don't have any permits, but we are inspected by USDA. So they're part of that.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay. And is it fair to say that these animals and insects will be under your care for the rest of your life?
Maya Higa:
Yes. That is the goal.
Diaz Dixon:
And do you have room for new ones to come in? Or what are the, how does that work?
Maya Higa:
Yeah, people ask that question all the time, is how do you select which animals are coming into your sanctuary? Or how do you know what you're getting next? And the answer is, I certainly don't have a list of what I want and can go and pick it out like a grocery store, right? It usually is what falls into our lap and what needs sanctuary. And so the marmosets, for example, the monkeys, it's little squirrel-sized monkeys. So we learned about them a week before they arrived at our facility. So it all happened really fast. And we had talked about wanting to do education with monkeys in the future. But we weren't prepared at that time. And in their situation, they needed some rehabilitation, because they came from a neglect situation. They're pretty unhealthy. They were malnourished. And so they needed six months indoors anyway. And so we brought them over, we rehabed them inside for six months while we were building out their enclosure outside. And then we moved them out a few months ago to their first outdoor enclosure that they've ever had, and they're doing excellent. And for the rest of it, for what comes in, is kind of what needs a home. What do we have the space and money for to build the best enclosure that we can? Do we have the training and experience among our staff to give the animal the best care and training possible? Does the animal need a voice in regards to conservation? So like raccoons, for example, are doing very well. Certainly not an endangered species. And so I've turned down raccoons, as animals at our sanctuary because we do conservation education here. And so we have to limit the ambassadors that we take in to have the most impact for education.
Diaz Dixon:
That makes total sense.
Maya Higa:
Yeah, so we pick that way, we also pick, you know, liability is a factor. I don't do big cats here. I won't do big alligators and bears and stuff like that just for the safety of my staff. And also limitations on space because they need so much space. So yeah, there's there's a lot of factors that go into it. But there's not a lot that we end up turning down. It usually works out.
Diaz Dixon:
So when is your documentary coming out? Because...
Maya Higa:
I'd love to do a documentary! That'd be a lot of fun.
Diaz Dixon:
We need to work on this. We need to make this. I've got some friends over at Netflix, we might have to make a call. This is really amazing. I'm gonna selfishly ask
Maya Higa:
Nice, very cool. you a question here. I'm loving everything that you're talking about. And I'm gonna jump back. What is your favorite vertebrae? It's just a red-tailed talk. But that's because it's super sentiment. They're the most common widespread bird of prey in North America, but it's a sentimental thing for me. So it's a red-tailed hawk.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay, okay. You do see red-tails everywhere.
Maya Higa:
I know.
Diaz Dixon:
Yeah. And you had close personal experience. That's, that's pretty cool. I'm a Harris hawk fan just because I lived together collaboratively in hunting, so. Well, speaking of, we've talked a little bit about exotic. I've noticed that your posts about exotic animals say that these animals aren't pets.
Maya Higa:
Yes.
Diaz Dixon:
What is the education behind that? Why do
Maya Higa:
Yeah, so we have so many animal species here that you say that? are exploited by the exotic pet trade. So we have the marmosets, and we have the parrots, are probably the against examples that we have. And what we try to be very careful with with our messaging online is to show people when we're talking about these monkeys is, these monkeys are in human care, under human care, because they're non-releasable. Because they were born in captivity, and were never given the chance. I would love nothing more than to see these monkeys in Brazil, where they belong. They're not meant to be in someone's house as someone's pet. And so I don't want people to see our content and think, "Oh, my gosh, they have a pet monkey. So cool. I want to pet monkey." Right? So, to protect them against further exploitation, we are constantly hammering in that they're not pets, that they're educational ambassadors, and they're there to prevent people from having them as pets. So that's why you see that on every post that we do. We're pretty aggressive with
Diaz Dixon:
Yeah, cuz I would imagine people are looking at it. your posts and going, "Oh, my gosh, so beautiful. Look how cute they are. And I want to get one."
Maya Higa:
Mmhmm.
Diaz Dixon:
You'd probably have to worry about mixed messaging on that if you didn't hammer that home.
Maya Higa:
Constantly. Yeah, we didn't show the monkeys for the first six months just because they were being rehabilitated indoors. And so even the nature of live streaming, people click in throughout however many hours you're live, and so they don't get the whole context. A lot of times they click in halfway through. And so if halfway through, they see us with a monkey inside of a building, the chances of them thinking that it's a pet monkey are very high. We didn't show them for six full months. The first time we showed them was when they were outside in an enclosure that presents like a zoo enclosure. We're very careful about it. It's very important to us.
Diaz Dixon:
That's great. You know, and you're doing this with intentionality and in great clarity. That's great. What type of parrots do you guys have?
Maya Higa:
We have a blue-and-gold macaw, a Catalina Macaw, a blue-fronted Amazon and an African Grey.
Diaz Dixon:
Very beautiful bird. I was in Costa Rica, probably seven, eight years ago, it's amazing when you see macaws that are just flying in the wild.
Maya Higa:
Yeah.
Diaz Dixon:
It is such a beautiful thing. And much more beautiful than walking through a lobby and seeing them in a, in a cage.
Maya Higa:
Yeah, people don't think about wild parrots, ever. It's amazing that you got to see them. Because I think when people think parrots, they think either pirates or pets.
Diaz Dixon:
Exactly, exactly. You grow up and you get these preconceived notions that they're automatically pets. But they're in the wild. And the last time I was in Austin, I was at the shelter. And I probably wasn't, I was mesmerized for about 15 minutes, I sat watching wild parrots that had obviously escaped, the green parrots that are down there. But it's just fascinating and always beautiful to see them. Even though they don't they don't originate in Texas. In the wild.
Maya Higa:
Yeah. Yeah, that's another problem with, with the pet trade is people release their pets when they don't know how to take care of them. And then they've formed colonies, and then you have invasive species, and the whole thing, but I do love Quaker parrots. I've seen them in Austin, too.
Diaz Dixon:
Yeah, they are beautiful. And there is an impact on that when people do that. What would you say, for your rescue, what has been the most memorable rescue that you've ever had?
Maya Higa:
Oh, the most memorable. Um, they're all, honestly all of them are pretty crazy.
Diaz Dixon:
Yeah.
Maya Higa:
I think the marmosets are a big one. I keep talking about the marmosets. But they are a really big one. They had to be rehabilitated in my house for a few months, because it was such a quick turnaround to get them here. And I have very little experience with, I have only a couple of years of experience with marmosets prior to us getting them here. And so I was just learning so much about them with them in my house. And watching them, watching the rehabilitation process was pretty incredible. One of them had very little usage of his back legs when he got here just because of muscle atrophy and malnutrition. And now he is moving, like you could not tell that there's ever anything wrong with him. And so, watching him do that is really incredible. We got, we have a cow that I got off of a beef operation from Oklahoma. So I drove to Oklahoma on my own and picked up baby cow, put her in my truck, drove back with her to Texas. So, that was a long trip and it was solo. So that one was pretty memorable for me, as well.
Diaz Dixon:
And how'd that cow turn out?
Maya Higa:
Excellent. She's, her name is Winnie the Moo. She teaches people about the beef industry, and beef emissions, and consumer choice, and she's great. She's, she's doing great.
Diaz Dixon:
That is cool. That's awesome. Well, I'm sure you have wonderful, wonderful stories. Winnie the Moo. That's hilarious. I'm going to ask you about the internet, and being an influencer, because I obviously don't fully understand that because the Internet didn't even exist. You know, there's a time where I watched the internet come into play. What does it mean to be a streamer and influencer? How does that work for you as a job?
Maya Higa:
Yeah, so Twitch is like YouTube. Well, now YouTube has live streaming, but Twitch is like YouTube but live. And it's focused on gaming. I am not a gamer, I don't play games on Twitch hardly at all. I just do conservation education, but it's just a live streaming platform. And what it looks like for me as a job, I've been doing it since 2019. I've done lots of content on Twitch, I've done, I've done cooking streams, and I've done hiking streams and lots of other just lifestyle kind of content.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay.
Maya Higa:
And now, I do a few streams a week that are at the sanctuary. So mostly at the sanctuary. I also just went to see the bat bridge in Austin, with my stream a couple of weeks ago. So I also do conservation education off site, but most of it is on site. And so I'll be taking care of the animals and showing people how their diets get made, showing them a little bit of how they get trained here. I do presentations. So I'll do a bunch of research and basically give a presentation speech to them, where I run them through a PowerPoint and show them videos and stuff. I recently did one on palm oil. And so it's it's different every stream, but I stream a few times a week and just teach as many people as possible about conservation. And then I also do YouTube. So I make YouTube videos once a week. They also have a wide range of content, what's in them. And then the obvious we also, we streamers also all maintain a TikTok and a Twitter and an Instagram. And so we're just on as many socials as possible, as a face for whatever you want to talk about. And for me, it's it's conservation education. So.
Diaz Dixon:
Well, you have a new follower in me for sure.
Maya Higa:
Well, thanks. Excellent. I'll take it.
Diaz Dixon:
You are doing a fantastic job with it. And that bat bridge is really cool. Last time I was in Austin, I walked down there too, to check it out.
Maya Higa:
Yeah.
Diaz Dixon:
It's a nice little walk along the river anyway, but it's super cool. And it's great. They've acknowledged in that city, the importance of it.
Maya Higa:
Yeah, absolutely. They love the bats there.
Diaz Dixon:
They do.
Maya Higa:
They should. They're awesome.
Diaz Dixon:
That's right. That's right. So a typical day for you, obviously, you're streaming a couple days a week, you are streaming and then the work that you're putting in at the sanctuary. I'm assuming that takes a huge majority of your time, doesn't it?
Maya Higa:
Yeah, when we started, it was just me and Ella, our Animal Care Coordinator. And so we were doing all of the animal care. Now that I have three animal care staff, my day to day, a lot of it is on the computer, actually. So I do a lot of emails, I do a lot of fundraising planning, I do content planning. And I do animal care still. So I go out with them to training sessions. I help them prepare enrichment and stuff like that. I do occasional cleaning as well. Me and my operations manager, the guy that you saw earlier, Connor, we wear a lot of hats. So, so, we're running kind of all of the admin to run the entire organization. So there's a lot going on. The day to day is, it's just, it's so different every time. I don't know, some days I get up and I'm mucking the pasture and then I'm doing a live stream where I'm teaching people about palm oil, and then some days I'm sitting at my computer for like seven hours, just planning a new series, or working with my agency, or trying to get sponsors for Alveus or whatever. I don't know. It's all over the place.
Diaz Dixon:
That's cool. That's cool. Never a dull moment for you. Always something to be done.
Maya Higa:
Definitely.
Diaz Dixon:
And you're talking about Alveus. Tell us a little bit about, um, you got Stompy the Emu and then Puppy the Scorpion?
Maya Higa:
Yeah. Stompy was our first ambassador. Stompy was born at a zoo in California. His mom didn't sit on his egg. And so he was incubated and then was shipped here to start my educational program. It's a zoo I worked at in college. And then, Puppy is a emperor scorpion. And we have two emperor scorpions, Puppy and Tortellini. And so they're growing, stream is watching them grow up, they've gone through two molts, which is, there's only four until they reach full size. They get to be like the size of your hand. So, yeah. So it's cool for them to watch that. And...
Diaz Dixon:
Soft names you've given to the scorpions.
Maya Higa:
Intentionally. Yeah, yeah. Because people are so scared of them. It's like, aw, this is Puppy. He's cute and nice. Yeah.
Diaz Dixon:
That is so cool. And I know you're a falconer. What was that process like in becoming a falconer?
Maya Higa:
Yeah, well, it's different in every state. So I was a falconer in California. So, you start as an apprentice and you have a, usually a master falconer or sometimes a general falconer overseeing you. And falconry is traditionally, it's a sport of hunting via bird of prey. But there's other things that you can do in falconery. I didn't, I didn't do a lot of hunting in California with my bird. I was really focused on rehabilitation. And so I was using the skills that I learned through falconry, to train birds to fly again, to do physical rehab with or physical therapy with these birds to get them to a place where they're releasable. And so I was mostly focused on rehab. There's also falconers that do abatement, which is flying birds of prey to keep other "pest birds," I say that in air quotations, from places you don't want pest birds. Seagulls. So...
Diaz Dixon:
Hotels. Exactly, yeah, I have friends that work there in Santa Barbara. So keeping birds away from pools at fancy hotels, keeping birds away from junk yards. So abatement is also something that people do with falconry. But I was focused on rehab. I did, I did that red-tailed hawk, I worked at a wildlife rehab center in Central Texas. And I have no idea how many birds I rehabbed and released, but it was a lot. And stream saw all of those as well. I did release streams of most of, if not all, of those birds. And they saw the whole rehab process for them as well. So. That's amazing. Now in California, do you have to, there's only certain birds you can start with as an apprentice? I know a lot of states, you have to start with a beginner, right?
Maya Higa:
Yep, in California, it's just American kestrels and red-tailed hawks.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay. Because pretty much the same here in Nevada. What advice would you give to other people who want to find their path in helping animals?
Maya Higa:
I give the same advice every time. And it's, experience matters in these industries, right? A degree is great, but experience really matters. And what a lot of people don't think about, I think especially younger people, the ones that I'm teaching, is if they love tigers, you know, they really want to work with tigers, but they're like, how do I work with tigers? You know, like, what am I gonna go find a tiger sanctuary and just be like, hey, hire me? No, definitely not. It starts in animal shelters. Honestly, it, it starts in doing animal care and animal husbandry where you have access to do that. And if you can volunteer and you can intern and get some animal care experience, zoos even, are much more likely to hire an intern that has years of experience at an animal shelter because they know how to feed and clean. You know, they have experience in animal care. It's super important. You just have to, you got to climb the ladder that way. But it can start, you can work with tigers and start with cats. I promise.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay, that's good advice. That's really good advice. Well, and it's really beneficial too, because so many shelters are in need.
Maya Higa:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Diaz Dixon:
And you know, you're doing it, you're doing it on a large scale, you're doing it where we can all see. Is it tough sometimes when so much of your life is out there for the public to be a part of?
Maya Higa:
Yes. Yeah, definitely, definitely. I think there are a lot of people, it's a good thing, actually, it comes from a really good place. There are a lot of people that are concerned with seeing animals under human care. Nowadays, people are concerned about animals being in captivity. Our facility, in particular, all of our animals are rescued. And they are non-releasable. If we released them into the wild, they would not make it. And so for them, their options are either euthanasia, or remain under human care and teach people about their species. And so that's, that's why we have these animals in captivity. But again, we would love nothing more than to see them in the wild; they just don't have that chance. And we see a lot of people come in with little context that maybe think we took them out of the wild or they want to see them released, which is good. It comes from a good place. But that can be challenging sometimes. And then, being online in general. I mean, being online as a young woman, obviously comes, comes with its occupational hazards. And so that's something that we've dealt with. All of us have dealt with at this facility for, for a few years. But it's definitely worth it for the impact that we're able to make. So yeah, we do our best.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay, so you focus on that work-life balance? You're making sure that you're taking care of your own mental health in all of this, as well?
Maya Higa:
Yeah, we do. We do our best. I've gotten better at it in the past year, I think. But when I started this organization in 2021, I was, I did not stop. It was bad.
Diaz Dixon:
Go, go, go, go, go.
Maya Higa:
Yeah, yeah.
Diaz Dixon:
And I always recommend for people to really keep that part in check. You know, when you're, when you're diving into something, no matter what it is, what you're passionate about, we got to make sure that we are, we're fueling ourselves at the same time. It's awesome to hear that you are, you pay attention to that. You really, really are one of the most interesting people, Maya, to talk to.
Maya Higa:
Thanks!
Diaz Dixon:
I get to talk to a lot of really interesting people. But I'm still explaining because even as this interview started, even where I'm sitting right now, I'm still geeked up on all the stuf you've been talking about. So, it's pretty cool. You've packed in so much like you've done, you've already accomplished so much. What, what's next for you?
Maya Higa:
We will expand as long as our staffing resources and financial resources and land resources permit. So we want to build as many enclosures as we can and keep providing the same level of animal care that we're providing. And so even with three additional new ambassadors, we need a new staff member, right? It's all these animals get training sessions every day, they get enrichment every day, their enclosures get cleaned every day. So we're not just going to hoard a bunch of animals. But I would love to keep rescuing ambassadors, doing more education, hiring more staff, but you know, we'll see, we'll see how far it goes. It's one of the problems of being based off of social media is you never know what happens to social media platforms. You know, you could look at MySpace and Facebook, Facebook is still alive, but you know what I mean. You never know what's gonna happen to those platforms. So, so we'll go for as long as you can, as long as people are listening.
Diaz Dixon:
Very good. It's funny you say MySpace. Blast from the past. How can, how can people help? How can people be a part? You know, you're talking about doing this expansion and it always helps when you've got support.
Maya Higa:
Yeah.
Diaz Dixon:
How, how can people find you? How do they dive in?
Maya Higa:
For me, on Twitch, my username is just Maya. M-A-Y-A. That's, that's where I do all my streaming. And then Alveus Sanctuary has its own socials everywhere. It is A-L-V-E-U-S Sanctuary on everything. TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube. So supporting those accounts is great. One of the great things about being online is, it's wonderful if you donate you know, we're a nonprofit. So we depend on donations, but just watching, financially supports us as well, because of ad revenue, you know, and the way we can sell for sponsors and stuff like that. So you don't have to donate to to be there to support us. Also, our goal is just education. So if you're learning, you are contributing to the mission of our organization. So yeah, just, just check us out, would be great. Check out Alveus everywhere. And that's, that's it.
Diaz Dixon:
That's good stuff. Can people come visit the sanctuary?
Maya Higa:
No, they can't. We're not open to the public.
Diaz Dixon:
Not open to public. What if a guy that you were on his podcast...?
Maya Higa:
You can come!
Diaz Dixon:
Alright, we're sneaking that in.
Maya Higa:
You can come out here whenever you want.
Diaz Dixon:
Alright, good stuff. Next time I'm in Austin, I am definitely, or down in Texas, I'm sure gonna come down and visit you.
Maya Higa:
Awesome.
Diaz Dixon:
So I get excited about this last question that I ask. I ask all my guests. Tell me a little bit about your pets.
Maya Higa:
My pets. I have a horse. I have five goats. I have two dogs, and a ferret, and a mouse.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay. So the funny thing is, is you sound like your house sounds like my daughter's house. My daughter lives in Georgia. She's got horses and goats and doesn't have any ferrets...Now, do these guys, do any of these guys interact with one another? Do your goats and your horse, they hang out in the same area, or...?
Maya Higa:
They share a fence line, but they don't really hang out.
Diaz Dixon:
Oh, okay.
Maya Higa:
So the horse I have had since I was 12. I'm 25 now, so he has come with me to college. He came with me to Texas. So he's been around a long time. And my goats, a couple of them were going to be meat goats. My neighbor raises goats for me. And I took two of them because I didn't want them to be meat goats. So some of them are from that. My dogs, both rescues. I have a Weimaraner and a pit bull-chihuahua mix. He's like, he's got like a little pit face and these short legs. So those are my dogs. I had two ferrets. I just lost one of them. They're both old. They live to be like six or seven years. And so I have one geriatric ferret and his friend just passed away. So now I have the one. But he's getting spoiled until the end of his life. And then I have a mouse who was going to be snake food. Oh, and I have two chickens, as well.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay, I'm gonna assume your chickens weren't rescued.
Maya Higa:
One of them was. One of them was beat up in a chicken coop and couldn't live there anymore. So.
Diaz Dixon:
Okay. Look at you just doing the work, all the way from work to home.
Maya Higa:
Yeah, got a lot of pets, as well.
Diaz Dixon:
So, one more time, Maya, how can we find you?
Maya Higa:
It'll be "Alveus Sanctuary" on all of our social platforms. And then "Maya" on Twitch.
Diaz Dixon:
Alright, Maya. Hey, listeners, you are, you've been blessed in this last hour to be able to listen to a true hero out there. Someone who is 25 years old, and doing what most people don't do in 85 years of life. She is impacting lives left and right. Saving lives and also giving animals and people an opportunity to learn more about the environment in which we live and things that are around us. Well, it's been awesome to have you. Thank you so much, Maya, for coming on the show.
Maya Higa:
Thank you so much. It's really fun. Appreciate it.
Diaz Dixon:
Yeah, yeah, you are definitely, again, I will say, a hero. And for all you guys out there listening, thank you for tuning in once again to People, Pet, and Purpose, where we really focus on this animal-human bond and paying close attention to human kindness, as well as animal kindness, because this world needs a lot more of both. Until next time, be safe, be well, and lead with love.
