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HomeNewsArchivesIMPAIRED PELICAN INSPIRES WILDLIFE HELP PROJECT

IMPAIRED PELICAN INSPIRES WILDLIFE HELP PROJECT

April 13, 2001 – Valentine didn't make it to Easter.
But the handicapped pelican has inspired what could turn out to be quite a living legacy territory wide and beyond.
The 3-month-old St. John bird became somewhat of a Pillsbury Sound celebrity earlier this year as he crossed the water on ferry boat trips with St. John wildlife activist Bob Cook, who was taking him to wildlife biologist Judy Pierce at the Fish and Wildlife office in Red Hook for help.
Valentine was found panhandling in Cruz Bay, obviously not savvy to diving for fish as pelicans are supposed to do. After several trips back and forth, Cook took the bird home, but he didn't fare well there.
Cook and Joan, his wife, took him to Cruz Bay Canines, Cats and Critters, who suggested feeding him through a tube. They fed him a mix of fish, cat food and Ensure, but it was too late. Valentine died.
Although the couple is still distraught, Cook is philosophical: "Something good came out of it. It simply reaffirms my belief that we need more knowledge of wildlife rehabilitation, better equipment and training to provide the best care."
That training will soon be a reality. Cook has initiated the V.I. Wildlife Rehabilitation Council, a project he has started thinking about on Feb. 14 "when we found Valentine and realized there was no organized rehab program here at all."
There has never been a place for treating injured wildlife in the territory, Cook says – a fact close to the heart of Pierce, who has been caring for injured birds and animals for all of her career. "We don't get paid for it," she says. "We are on federal grants, and there is no grant for wildlife rescue. It's really not our job, but you've got a critter out there that's suffering, you can't just say 'it's not my job.' I get calls at home all the time, but what can you do?"
Pierce says lots of people will go beyond their job to help. She gets volunteers from the National Park Service, snowbirds, Audubon Society volunteers, local people. But "wildlife rehab is not easy," she notes.
"One day a man called to tell me a great blue heron was eating his chicks. He had the heron caged, so I took it to a mangrove swamp," Pierce says. "It's so wonderful when people do that, and he knew what the bird was. We appreciate that people call us, even if it's the old lady with an iguana in her house and she's freaked out with nobody to help her."
Pierce breathes a sigh of relief for Cook's project. "It's certainly been needed for a long time," she says. "For 15 years I've been doing this sort of seat-of-the-pants rehab with no formal funding. It'll be great."
Cook has joined the Wildlife Rehabilitation International Council, which will conduct the training course he has planned for July. No stranger to wildlife, he once was a docent at the Houston Zoo for four years, where he volunteered teaching children about animals, and he has worked as a diver at Marine World in Florida. Currently he has taken a year off from captaining a sailboat to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) at the American Red Cross – and now to take on his new career. He and his wife have lived on St. John for about 15 years.
He says St. John community members have been volunteering in droves to help him in the rehabilitation project. "We have an enclosure on a hillside at Maho Bay," he says. "It'll cover 144 square feet and be eight feet tall with a wire top. Jared Hill, the Maho Bay environmental specialist; my friend Gary Moses; and Laurel Brannick, the park ranger who helped with Valentine, are building it. Dale Gill, who owns Paradise Lumber, volunteered all the lumber and the wire. I didn't even know him."
He's enthusiastic about the training course. "We have to teach people how to care for wild animals and birds and endangered species," he said.
Lots of times people will simply release injured animals to care for themselves, and they can't, he says, so, "We're going to try to change that."
It will cost $4,200 to put on the wildlife council training program — $100 for each student, with 42 students required for a class, Cook says, "So right now, I'm raising the money."
He is not alone.
He has the sanction of the V.I. Audubon Society, whose president is park ranger Brannick. "She's allowing us to use the society as a nonprofit to conduit grants, " he says, "and I'm busily writing grant proposals every day." He will rely on grants and individual and corporate sponsors to pay for the training, and he's optimistic. "I'm a believer in miracles," he says.
He may not need many with all the community support that has been forthcoming. "Once I saw the enthusiasm for the project, I wondered if 42 spaces were enough," he says, noting that Coral World curator Donna Nemeth was immediately enthusiastic and reserved four spaces.
The intensive two-day course gets a jump start with a month's book study beforehand and includes testing and hands-on experience. "The wildlife council said we had to have 22 ducks, 10 rabbits and an opossum," Cook says. An opossum? "Yes — we finally compromised on an iguana instead," he laughs. "Dr. Bethany Bradford of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is going to be our vet of record. She'll be sure the animals are being handled properly. She's excited about it."
Although there are some turtle, tortoise and iguana problems, it's mainly waterfowl in need of help in the Virgin Islands, Cook says. "The pelicans, of course, and the raptors — the hawks and kestrels.
Cook has the blessing of Dean Plaskett, commissioner of the Planning and Natural Resources Department, which has granted him the necessary permits to pick up endangered species and has offered to partner with Cook in his endeavor. Agencies on St. John are almost lining up to offer support – among them the National Park Service, Friends of the V.I. National Park, the V.I. Environmental Resource Station at Lameshur Bay and Cruz Bay Canines, Cats and Critters.
Cook has even had inquiries from the British Virgin Islands National Parks Trust, which wants to send volunteers over for the course. One thing he wants to do is "get 12 kids over 12 years old, and offer them scholarships for the course. It very important for them to know the environment and understand the animals, and then they will be certified rehabilitators and they can teach others."
He's aiming to attract volunteers from all three islands to attend the course, and he is planning to seek donated rooms on St. John in hotels or private homes for off-island students, "but I haven't gotten there yet."
Cook says he has had lots of feedback through e-mail and a wildlife rehabilitators site which lists about 600 rehabilitators worldwide who keep in touch sharing advice. He has gotten help from people in California, Florida and Virginia who specialize in waterfowl. "I even received a $10 donation for Valentine from a lady in the states," he says, after a story about the pelican appeared in the Source.
To reach Cook, call (340) 779-4570 or e-mail to captainbcook@yahoo.com.

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