CBS Sunday Morning

Our CBS Sunday morning podcast is sponsored by Edward Jones. College tours with your oldest daughter. Updating the kitchen to the appropriate decade.

Retiring on the coast. Life is full of moments that matter, and Edward Jones helps you make the most of them. That's why every Edward Jones financial advisor works with you to build personalized strategies for now and down the road. So when your next moment arrives, big or small, you're ready for it. Life is for living. Let's partner for all of it. Learn more at edwardjones.com. Good morning.

I'm Jane Pauley and this is Sunday Morning. We're island hopping once again. Connor Knighton will be taking us to a Hawaiian outpost you might call Picture Perfect.

The small Hawaiian island of Lanai is best known for its dramatic scenery and luxurious four seasons resort. But these tourists have come to the Fur Seasons, a cat sanctuary created to address the island's feral cat problem. Cats, which once preyed on endangered birds, are now played with by a steady stream of adoring visitors. A trip to the Fur Seasons later on Sunday morning.

Jim Gaffigan makes the case for beer that tastes like beer. All coming up when our Sunday Morning podcast continues. Hi, I'm Dan Pramak, business editor at Axios. Right now, you can download, subscribe and hear Pro Rata, the first podcast from Axios. We talk about the collision of politics, business and technology. Things like election hacking or the battle over 3D printed guns or the Washington, D.C. blowback against big tech platforms like Facebook and Google. Listen and subscribe to Axios Pro Rata now.

It's free on Apple Podcasts, radio.com or wherever you get your shows to get smarter faster. Connor Knighton is island hopping again. And this morning he's taking us to an idyllic spot. That's the cat's meow.

Welcome to paradise. These cats on the small Hawaiian island of Lanai have got it made. Amazing weather, meals served in their own cat forteria, occasional massages and a steady influx of adoring fans ready to give them all the love and attention they could ever want. All the cats are happy. Like you could tell like they are so friendly and you could tell they enjoy being here.

Lanai is the least visited of the publicly accessible Hawaiian islands. Overnight guests typically come to stay at the fancy Four Seasons Resort down on the coast. The tourists with the cat fancy have started flying over just to spend time at a rustic outdoor sanctuary known locally as the fur seasons. 95% of the cats that we bring into the sanctuary are completely feral meaning they were born in the wild and they have never had and they have never had any human interaction until us.

There's enough for everybody. Keone Vaughn is the executive director of the Lanai cat sanctuary created to help address the island's feral cat problem. I'm a 45 year old male that runs a 600 cat sanctuary. I don't mind being labeled the crazy cat guy. Yeah it's really the cat lady's getting a bad rap so you never hear about the crazy cat guys.

Time to break the mold. I'll be the crazy cat guy. It was actually a lady named cat with a crazy idea who got this project off the ground. My name is Kathy but people call me cat and I've always had an affinity for them since I was little. We always had a cat one or two but not 600.

Kathy Carroll moved to Lanai in 2001 to open an art gallery with her husband. She was surprised when she discovered so many starving cats roaming around the island. As you look around the sanctuary today all the cats you see here were roaming in town or down at the resort at the golf course and in pretty sad shape either very hungry homeless cats. Cats were originally brought to Hawaii long ago on passing ships. Lanai's open spaces and lack of predators led to an explosion in the feral cat population.

On the cliffs right beside the four seasons cats were running wild and destroying the wildlife. The cats began to prey on native birds like the wedge-tailed shearwater which nest right into the sand. In the higher elevations cats discovered the endangered petrel a Hawaiian bird that is especially vulnerable. Since the cats are an invasive species in Hawaii there was a fear they might be euthanized but this cat had a different idea. Those birds are protected by state law and federal law and we wanted to find a way to love and protect the cats, love and protect the birds and help the community. Now the cats that are trapped on the island are brought to this enclosed sanctuary.

There's no vet so twice a month one flies over from Honolulu. While some of the feral cats spend all day in hiding those who do venture out receive no shortage of attention. This is probably our 12th time at the cat sanctuary and we stay for like an hour two hours at a time the kids just love it. The first seasons has turned into a surprisingly popular attraction.

Only 3,000 or so people live on Lanai so the sanctuary survives on donations from outside visitors. The last 12 months we've had over 10,000 visitors. People from all over the world of all ages come here and it's really really nice to see their smiles on the face and it's really great that all these cats are getting the attention. Today there are definitely still feral cats roaming wild on Lanai but I didn't see any.

Maybe the word is starting to get out. If I was a cat I'd be knocking on the door like hey how do I get into this place? It's a place that the humans seem to enjoy just as much as the felines. Just be careful not to fall too deeply in love or else you might end up going home with a cuddly souvenir.

All of these cats are available for adoption. Our Jim Gaffigan knows what he likes and would like you to know all about it. I like beer. This may not surprise you by looking at me. I am an overweight American male in my early 40s.

All right late 40s. All right let's just say I'm an overweight American male who likes beer. Not just any beer. I like a quality beer that can help me forget that I'm well not in my early 40s. A beer preference is personal. At family reunions my brothers will always make fun of me for liking fancy beer.

Jimmy and his fancy beer. As far as I can tell what makes my beer preference fancy to my brothers is that it requires a bottle opener but I'm aware my beer palette is anything but complex. Now it seems every city town and hamlet I visit has its own beer made by locals. Specialty beers, micro beers, craft beers made by community artisans and I can tell you without exception they're all bad.

I'm not exaggerating. No I don't care how cute the beer name is that has to do with local folklore. I don't care how beautiful the hand-drawn label is of the cactus wrestling a penguin. The main problem is well they don't taste like beer. I guess I'm a traditionalist. I don't want a beer that tastes like chocolate or oranges or avocados. I want a beer that tastes like I don't know beer.

How did we lose our way? Are we that bored with beer? I don't know about you but I'm tired of fielding questions from waiters like how hoppy do you like your beer? I don't know. How many hops are in a good tasting beer?

Recently I had a bartender tried to sell me on a beer that had a jolly rancher kick to it. Oh America what happened? I'm Jane Pauley.

Thank you for listening and please join us again next Sunday morning. Republicans have the best chance of taking a Democratic seat away. Nevada, New Hampshire. Not Georgia. Well Georgia's right up there but New Hampshire is a surprise. In New Hampshire people really just kind of don't like Maggie Hassan. For more from this week's conversation follow the Takeout with Major Garrett on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.