- December 21, 2024
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For the first time since before Hurricane Helene, Save Our Seabirds opened its doors to the public on Monday.
After the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center took substantial damage from both hurricanes Helene and Milton, staff and volunteers worked hard to get both the hospital and outdoor enclosures ready to open.
The night before Save Our Seabirds officially reopened, the nonprofit held an event for board members, key donors and their families at the SOS campus.
According to Board Chair Linda Mitchell, this event was planned before the hurricanes as a way for smaller groups to interact with the board and staff.
“We wanted to show where we are, let people get to know us and our staff better and understand that we are doing well and have big plans," Mitchell said.
Mitchell has been on the SOS Board of Directors for about two and a half years and recently took over as board chair after former chair Jim Curtis died in August.
At the event on the evening of Nov. 17, about 100 guests enjoyed food and live music and had the opportunity to visit several stations scattered around SOS where avian keepers talked about certain resident birds.
These “keeper talks” included a pelican feeding and introductions to ambassador birds like Fish William the double-crested cormorant.
Fish has been in captivity for most of his life and is about four years old. He has Rickets disease, which is caused by vitamin deficiencies and can lead to bone deformities.
Another ambassador bird on display was Cupid the black vulture. Cupid is nine years old and came to SOS in February. He was raised by another rehabber from when he was a chick, so Cupid imprinted on humans, making him non-releasable.
The SOS facility has between 80 and 100 non-releasable birds on campus. Any bird that is out in an enclosure is a permanent resident and will likely spend the rest of their life at SOS.
Birds who are still in the rehabilitation process are kept behind the scenes to prevent the birds from imprinting on humans and potentially becoming non-releasable. Imprinted birds tend to rely on human interaction too much to survive on their own in the wild.
After what has been a tough month of recovery after back-to-back hurricanes, Executive Director Brian Walton and Mitchell were happy to share the progress so far with board members and donors.
“We still have more repairs to do from the hurricane. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve had some very generous people help fund a large portion of our recovery,” Mitchell said.
Hurricane Helene was a major storm surge event for many living near the coast. This includes SOS and its avian residents.
The storm made landfall on Sept. 26, but SOS staff closed the center on Sept. 24 after final preparations. That was the last day SOS was open to the public.
Walton estimated that SOS took about $50,000 in losses from the hurricane, which included a broken generator, tools and materials for repairs.
Helene also caused one avian casualty, a turkey vulture named Ruby. She was an older bird, and Walton said staff grew close to her over the years. It’s uncertain what her cause of death was, but it likely could have been stress from the storm.
About 3.5 to 4 feet of water flooded the campus, which caused a massive die-off of vegetation. The surge also brought a substantial amount of debris, which required a herculean effort from SOS staff and volunteers to clean up.
While cleaning up from Helene, Hurricane Milton eyed the Sarasota coast for a direct hit. Walton and the SOS staff quickly switched from recovery mode to preparing for another storm.
“Psychologically, that was just like a punch in the gut,” Walton said.
Before leaving the campus, staff put many of the smaller birds like parrots in the office and bathrooms, which are on a raised platform about 15 feet above the ground.
After the storm passed, Walton and staff secured a boat ride from the Sarasota Police Department to check on the birds. Walton said he was nervous to come back and see the aftermath but was relieved to find all the birds were okay.
He credited much of that to how sturdy the elevated structure was, which was built decades ago when SOS used to be The Pelican Man Sanctuary.
Standing on the balcony of the facility’s elevated surface, Walton said he was amazed to be able to see the water in places that were previously blocked by trees and other vegetation. That’s when he grasped how much vegetative damage the two storms caused.
Milton brought more debris and damage to the facility, but thanks to volunteer support and the work of staff — especially Director of Facilities & Grounds Leo Kissling — SOS was able to open again on Nov. 18.
“We’re not back to where we used to be yet, but we’re open,” Walton said.
Now reopened, Walton, the staff and the board of directors are looking toward the future of SOS.
This includes an attempt to create a network of local veterinarians, something new for SOS. Through this, the goal is to have 3-6 veterinarians that the SOS rehab team can utilize when needed.
The SOS rehabilitators can perform simple medical procedures but would need licensed veterinarians for surgeries and to prescribe certain medications.
This idea for a veterinarian network was born from a staff change behind the scenes of SOS, which Walton took as an opportunity.
“I think a staff change is always an opportunity for improvement,” he said. “I think it’s exciting.”
The avian hospital at SOS serves about 1,000-1,200 birds per year and responds to over 5,000 distress calls per year.
This week, SOS also began work on five new aviaries.
These new aviaries will be aluminum structures with more modern mesh material, which differs from the older style of aviaries currently at SOS which have wooden structures. The goal is to replace the over 30 outdated aviaries with these new materials.
The site of the new aviaries used to hold old enclosures, which have not been in use since Hurricane Ian damaged them, according to Walton.
Walton expects the first five aviaries to be done by the end of January 2025.
The aviary project is the start of a larger redevelopment of the SOS campus as a part of the master site plan drawn up by local architects at DSDG Architects.
Also, a part of the new site plan is resiliency aspects like raising the behind-the-scenes rehabilitation area to make it less susceptible to flooding.
As Mitchell said, the SOS board and staff have big plans for the facility, even after recovering from two major hurricanes.
“Going forward, what I want you to know is we’re full speed ahead,” Walton told attendees of the Nov. 17 reception. “We are not just surviving, we’re going full speed ahead.”
