Suzie Schwab’s love for helping animals led to the creation of a Haiku animal rehabilitation sanctuary and helped her survive a terminal cancer diagnosis.

Along with alternative medicine, her love of nurturing animals gave her more than 40 years of “unexpected life” before her death July 22, said her husband, Sylvan Schwab.

She was 64 when she died in the intensive-care unit at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

“She just had a very special gift and relationship with animals,” said Caroline Sakthiveil, who grew close to Suzie Schwab as an animal caregiver for the past nine years at the East Maui Animal Refuge. “She lived her own fairy tale. This is exactly how she wanted to live, where she wanted to be. She was a very special soul.”

The Schwabs started the refuge, which later became known as the Boo Boo Zoo, in 1977 as a unique therapy program for Suzie, who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the kidneys, according to the refuge website.

She came to Maui to die that year after opening an atlas, closing her eyes and pointing.

On Maui, Suzie and Sylvan met on a blind date, Sakthiveil said. When she opened the door, a parrot flew onto his shoulder.

“He was just mesmerized by her,” Sakthiveil said. “They fell in love.”

She said Suzie was drawn to the weakest animals who seemed to have little chance of surviving.

“Sylvan noticed that caring for an injured bird gave Suzie the strength to fight her illness, and he began bringing home more animals in need of her tender loving care,” according to the refuge website. “Miraculously, the love Suzie showered upon the animals has contributed to her complete recovery from cancer! Her therapy program has developed into a unique rehabilitation center, with 300 to 400 animals being cared for at any given time.”

The couple started their work to save injured animals in the parking lot of a Maalaea condominium, then moved to Huelo before settling in the Haiku location that now houses the nonprofit sanctuary for injured and orphaned animals.

Because all the animals arrive at the refuge with injuries or “boo boos,” it came to be known as the Boo Boo Zoo.

“It grew from rescuing birds to rescuing everything,” Sylvan Schwab said last week while waiting at a veterinarian’s office with eight cats. “It just kept growing and growing.”

The sanctuary now includes about 500 animals, including three dozen deer, more than 60 goats, hundreds of birds and more than 100 cats.

Schwab said deer and goats were his wife’s favorites because they arrived as orphaned babies that she bottle-fed and raised.

A now-grown deer named Bam Bam became her protector.

“Every time an ambulance came for her, Bam Bam wouldn’t let the ambulance driver near her,” Schwab said.

He said his wife had been semi-bedridden but was still active in the work of caring for animals. Recently, she had shared her bed with eight goats, three deer and a lamb, he said.

“For us, she was just so strong,” Sakthiveil said. “She survived unbeatable odds.

“She survived cancer and all of her illnesses over the years by just nurturing sick and injured animals. Her energy was really calming.

“She was in bed a lot of her life, but she loved her life.”

Along with her love for animals, Schwab had “a really big heart,” Sakthiveil said.

“She didn’t turn anybody away,” Sakthiveil said. “We give every animal a chance.

“That was her mission — to help anybody in need.”

Some deer arrive at the refuge after being hit by cars or suffering gunshot wounds.

“We basically take the animals that don’t have anywhere else to go,” Sakthiveil said. “Usually, they are in a life-threatening situation.”

While the work will continue with Sylvan Schwab and volunteers, Sakthiveil said the refuge won’t be the same without Suzie.

“She was the heartbeat of the place,” Sakthiveil said. “The whole place was founded for her. It was her whole dream. She just had a very strong spirit, but was also very selfless.”

A new building at the refuge has space for a veterinarian to live upstairs, and fundraising is being done to equip and furnish a clinic downstairs.

“We’re trying to establish a community-based free clinic on the refuge,” Schwab said. “We’ll try to do it in her memory.”

In addition to her husband, Schwab is survived by her parents, Al and Jo Hawck of Arizona, and her brother, Robert Hawck of California.

Visitation will begin at noon Tuesday at Ballard Family Mortuary, with a service to begin at 1 p.m. Burial will follow at 2 p.m. at Valley Isle Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her memory to the East Maui Animal Refuge, 25 Maluaina Place, Haiku 96708.

More information about the refuge is available at 

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at .

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