My Nonprofit Reviews

I normally don't write these sorts of reviews. However, I feel that it is important that I share my experience with Pelican Harbor Seabird Station and their bird rescue efforts.

I was given a baby dove by a lady that knew I took care of birds before. Even though I have experience taking care of birds I felt it was in the best interest of this dove to get it over to professional rehabilitation experts. Pelican Harbor sounded like the perfect place to do just that.

When I arrived there I was greeted by a staff member who took the bag I had the bird in and put it in another room. They then proceeded to tell me how much Pelican Harbor Seabird Station worked to help birds, and how hard it was financially for them. They again and again made certain to highlight that they were a non-profit and were in desperate need of donations. I gave them what I had in my wallet at the time, which wasn't much, and felt pretty guilty about giving such a small amount. I made a mental note while driving back that when I came back I'd donate a lot more, because I felt that their "expert care" of this poor bird was worth it.

Before leaving, I asked under what circumstances did they euthanize birds there, and was told this rarely happened and only if the bird were injured and was beyond the possibility of a medical intervention. This did not worry me because I examined the dove carefully and he seemed in perfect health.

One thing that struck me with this interaction was the lack of interest that was given to the bird. The staff member didn't even look at the bird. I brought to their attention multiple times that the bird had not eaten in a while, and they shrugged it off. The main focus of my visit seemed to be simply to solicit donations. Having said this, if the bird was actually looked after and taken care of I would have nothing but good things to say about them and would gladly have donated a lot more.

Three days later I called in asking about the status of the baby dove. I was told the dove was eating well and placed in a cage with other doves. During this conversation I got a weird feeling something wasn't right. The response of how the dove was doing seemed overly descriptive and embellished.

Because of this weird feeling, I decided to call again a week later. During this call I discovered the bird had actually been euthanized soon after dropping it off. During the bird's intake they performed x-rays that showed the bird was badly injured. They claimed the bird could not be rehabilitated and was in a lot of pain. During this call I also discovered the bird was not a mourning dove as I had originally thought, but actually a non-endemic Eurasian collared dove.

After further research, I discovered Pelican Harbor Seabird Station is not allowed to treat Eurasian collared doves. So there would be no reason for them to x-ray this bird, in fact telling me they did might be an admission of violating Florida policy. I brought this to their attention and they agreed that they indeed could not work with Eurasian collared doves.

More calls were made after and again the story continued to evolve. It seems like maybe there were never any x-rays done now.

So what really happened?

It seems like Pelican Harbor Seabird Station wants your money. Rather than turning me away because they couldn't care for the bird, they chose to euthanize it. Rather than telling me the truth they chose to create an elaborate story.

I can't tell you if this is 100% what happened, I'll never know the truth. But the amount of times the story has changed and the interactions I had with them do not paint them in a good light.

All of this could have easily been avoided if they simply took some interest in looking at the bird I gave them and told me they were unable to care for it. If indeed they did have to euthanize it when it was under their care because the bird was not endemic, they could have clearly stated that, instead of making up a bunch of stories.

In closing, I cannot recommend Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, nor will I ever bring another bird to them again.