The end of the Pelican man's legacy....

[Pentagongirlie]

This article is old but I just saw on the news that they had to shut it down due to lack of funds. There were over 50,000 pelicans that were saved due to this man's help of one pelican. Myself, I love pelicans. They are the funny, clumsy fish divers and are apart of the southern gulf which we love. Too bad it never survived. The story was based on a man that died in 2003 but the sanctuary couldn't stay afloat. (no pun)


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Pelican Man left questionable legacy

Wild birds? I like them as much as the next guy, and more than most.

I'm a fan of sea and shore birds. I have many times gone to pains to extract someone's fishing line out of mangrove branches to prevent harm to pelicans and cormorants and herons and other critters.

But I can't help but see a big, bright silver lining in the supposedly dire news from the Pelican Man's bird sanctuary on Sarasota's City Island.

According to its own press releases, the sanctuary could close, very soon, if it doesn't get a lot of donations, fast.

I'm not urging anyone to donate. I'm even tempted to hope the usual donors, and any others who would consider giving, will come to their senses this time and put their checkbooks away.

There, I've said it. Let the hate mail begin.

The sanctuary is a locally well-known place where people bring injured birds and other wildlife for treatment and care. Lots of kind-hearted volunteers have worked there, scooping poop and doing the dirty work of caring for disabled birds.

That sounds like a good cause, and in some ways it is one.

Dale Shields, the Pelican Man himself, died in 2003, but volunteers as well as paid staffers funded with donated money and admission ticket sales have been keeping the place going since then.

It has been a rocky operation, however, long racked not only with money problems but also with internal feuds and disagreements over nearly everything: how birds are treated, when euthanasia is proper, who does what, who is in charge, whether wildlife laws are being broken, and so on.

That stuff dates back to the days when Shields was alive. He was never much of a manager, either of money or people, as he was quick to admit.

Still, he attracted donations. Some saw him as a virtual St. Francis, and wildlife-loving volunteers flocked to help him help birds.

But while some admired him, some came to see him as an egomaniac lacking good sense. Some insist he skimmed from the donations to cover bets during frequent trips to the dog track.

Maybe more to my point, he also was known for regularly feeding wild pelicans and other birds that were not hurt or in any way incapable of fending for themselves, mostly because he liked to do it. Wildlife biologists adamantly say that is a bad idea.

It creates dependence and lures birds away from natural feeding patterns and into begging behaviors that endanger them.

But Shields assumed that whatever he felt good about was good for animals.

Some volunteers and donors eventually got on him about that, but it seems most supported one idea that makes me cringe. That is, he did countless medical procedures -- sometimes illegal and unlicensed ones on the hood of a truck -- on birds he knew would never be able to fly or feed themselves again.

He and his many volunteers in those Pelican Man trucks have genuinely saved many birds.

Many had been tangled in fishing lines or otherwise just needed a bit of short-term help to overcome some human-imposed calamity and return to the wild. That's great.

But hundreds of "rescued" birds that still live, minus an important part or two, in cages at the sanctuary, are facing life in captivity. That status quo will apparently end only if the place runs out of money.

It almost has. Donations are down, and so are paying visitors.

The place has long been an odd sort of tourist attraction. It sits on a prime bayside site loaned to the sanctuary by the city, and it looks nice. But I wonder how many people regret paying $6 only to realize the star attractions are birds missing wings, beaks, legs or eyes?

Now, the trucks that volunteers use when called to help injured pelicans no longer roll, due to fuel costs and such. Injured birds that are brought to the center may get care -- for better or worse -- but volunteers have been scarce of late, and there have been deep staff cuts.

Some people hope donors will step forward and do a bailout. It would be painful for them to see Pelican Man's place close.

I can see why, but I fear that donating would be like throwing cut bait to wild pelicans. Even if it makes you feel good for a moment, it might not be the best thing to do.

Tom Lyons can be contacted at tom.lyons@heraldtribune.com or (941) 361-4964.
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