Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!bellcore!rutgers!rochester!cornell!oravax!john
From: john@oravax.UUCP (John Gregoire)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Baby birds in the Florida Keys
Summary: Make room for the one's you can return to the wild.
Message-ID: <269@oravax.UUCP>
Date: 31 May 88 13:08:36 GMT
References: <1206@inuxd.UUCP>
Organization: Odyssey Research Ass., Ithaca NY
Lines: 39

In article <1206@inuxd.UUCP>, jla@inuxd.UUCP (Joyce Andrews) writes:
> We have some kind of fly
> catcher (too young to identify for sure...shows some cinnamon
> coloration in the tail...anyone care to try?)
Suggest you contact a local bander who should be able to key out
your flycatcher.

> 
> Now...your input.  Audabon and Fish and Game say we are keeping
> too many.  We have sixteen pelicans with amputated wings who can
> never be released.  We have an osprey and a broad-winged hawk
> that are permanent residents.  We have a turkey vulture that may
> be permanent.  A number of sea gulls have to live here forever.
> The powers that be say that if the bird cannot be safely returned
> to the wild, we should euthanize right away, even if it is otherwise
> healthy.  In other words, don't amputate a mutilated
> wing...euthanize the bird.  ...  We DO have a crowding problem,
> making it harder to rehabilitate the ones that will be able to be
> released.
  Should
> we euthanize all birds that will never be returned to the wild
> (excluding, of course, those that can be used for education
> purposes or captive breeding programs), thereby freeing time for
> those that CAN be saved as wild birds?  Or should we try to
> conserve life, no matter how confining?  What is your opinion?
> 
Joyce, I believe you have answered your own question. Rehab is great
and you folks do a tremendous job BUT don't be trapped into running
a zoo at the expense of rehabbing those you can release; that is the
purpose of your efforts. For history, I can cite two excellent
rehab sites, one raptor, one general, in the Md and Va areas that no
longer help any birds...why?...they became inundated with unreleasable
animals.
Please keep up the good work for those you CAN release, turn over to
captive breeding programs or to educxational endeavors. The last point
is sticky in that too many rehab centers carry their "educational"
birds too far in that the poor things become a travelling side show
instead of being cared for ata nature center or other public
education facilities. Good Luck. John