DMRick
I prefer to be tagless!
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2001
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Thought some of you might be interested in some help Disney gave. This is part of the newsletter my niece sends out (she is the Kelly in the note). Disney helped out with a grant..you can see the amount at the end. I posted most of it, so you can see why they are so thankful to Disney:
Welcome to the Marathon Wild Bird Centers monthly e-mail newsletter!
Hurricane Wilma gives MWBC a bath to say the least!
If you havent heard by now, the surge that followed Hurricane Wilma flooded the entire 64-acre piece of property where the Marathon Wild Bird Center is located. The storm passed by in the middle of the night and the surge hit at approximately 10:30 a.m. Monday, October 24. Luckily, we made the call Sunday afternoon that the storms track looked too close for our comfort. Volunteers rallied to bring all the birds inside except for the 12 pelicans and eight cormorants we kept in our 20x40 outdoor flight habitat. The effect was like being in a very large blender! On Monday, Director Kelly Grinter (wearing a life preserver) swam in with a dedicated friend to investigate. It was almost unrecognizable! The pelicans and cormies left outside appeared to be having a blast or is that splash in what became a sea of four feet of water. They were bathing and diving like they hadnt in years!
The surge tossed all our freezers and refrigerators around as well as the cabinets that held valuable hand and power tools. Miraculously we only had one fatality. The cage of Buddy, our six-year old educational nighthawk, fell into the water and she drowned. We will miss her immensely! Luckily, we were able to capture Truman, our wandering Turkey Vulture, and herd Dewey, his sidekick, inland (obviously he avoided capture!). The water did not destroy a single cage or habitat and only one suffered minor damage. Cormorants were the main patients we saw after the stormthe young ones and the old ones were starving because the water was so unclear they couldnt see fish.
Since we knew a surge was possible, we prepared by moving our most valuable equipment, the x-ray machine, computer, etc. as high as we could. Almost everything in our intensive care/food prep area was washable, but we lost 10-years worth of irreplaceable rehab information that was located in the two bottom drawers of our filing cabinet. A huge pile of debris has accumulated because we have had to trash anything electronic (back-up medical equipment in storage) or paper (files and books) that was within two feet of the floor.
Three weeks later, with the help of numerous volunteers, we are almost back to normal operation with a bit of a newer, fresher look! And just in time for season! Our most heartfelt thanks go to the following Avian Angels who made an extra effort to rehab our facility and made sure that we had what we needed to get by: DD Holland, Karl Lobsinger, Colin Finnis, Karyn Buckley, Lloyd Brown, and Karen Dettman.
A special thank you goes to all the volunteers who pitched in when they could. Many suffered damage to their homes and vehicles as well, and we really appreciate the time they took to help us.
By the way, thanks to its new dockage (courtesy of DD Holland), The Avian, our floating home that houses director Kelly Grinter, was spared any damage. Had it still been docked at Faro Blanco, it would have been in the parking lot! If that aint luck, we dont know what is!
Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund to the rescue
Having lost a lot of visitors to the Keys from hurricane evacuations, our bank account quickly bottomed out this past summer. Volunteer Lee Lapid took us in the right direction and filed for an emergency grant from the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund. Our sincere gratitude goes to Dr. Doug Mader, DVM, for his glowing recommendation. The Funds Board of Directors awarded us an emergency grant of $5,000. When we got it last week, we immediately used it to pay numerous bills, bringing us back into the black.
Welcome to the Marathon Wild Bird Centers monthly e-mail newsletter!
Hurricane Wilma gives MWBC a bath to say the least!
If you havent heard by now, the surge that followed Hurricane Wilma flooded the entire 64-acre piece of property where the Marathon Wild Bird Center is located. The storm passed by in the middle of the night and the surge hit at approximately 10:30 a.m. Monday, October 24. Luckily, we made the call Sunday afternoon that the storms track looked too close for our comfort. Volunteers rallied to bring all the birds inside except for the 12 pelicans and eight cormorants we kept in our 20x40 outdoor flight habitat. The effect was like being in a very large blender! On Monday, Director Kelly Grinter (wearing a life preserver) swam in with a dedicated friend to investigate. It was almost unrecognizable! The pelicans and cormies left outside appeared to be having a blast or is that splash in what became a sea of four feet of water. They were bathing and diving like they hadnt in years!
The surge tossed all our freezers and refrigerators around as well as the cabinets that held valuable hand and power tools. Miraculously we only had one fatality. The cage of Buddy, our six-year old educational nighthawk, fell into the water and she drowned. We will miss her immensely! Luckily, we were able to capture Truman, our wandering Turkey Vulture, and herd Dewey, his sidekick, inland (obviously he avoided capture!). The water did not destroy a single cage or habitat and only one suffered minor damage. Cormorants were the main patients we saw after the stormthe young ones and the old ones were starving because the water was so unclear they couldnt see fish.
Since we knew a surge was possible, we prepared by moving our most valuable equipment, the x-ray machine, computer, etc. as high as we could. Almost everything in our intensive care/food prep area was washable, but we lost 10-years worth of irreplaceable rehab information that was located in the two bottom drawers of our filing cabinet. A huge pile of debris has accumulated because we have had to trash anything electronic (back-up medical equipment in storage) or paper (files and books) that was within two feet of the floor.
Three weeks later, with the help of numerous volunteers, we are almost back to normal operation with a bit of a newer, fresher look! And just in time for season! Our most heartfelt thanks go to the following Avian Angels who made an extra effort to rehab our facility and made sure that we had what we needed to get by: DD Holland, Karl Lobsinger, Colin Finnis, Karyn Buckley, Lloyd Brown, and Karen Dettman.
A special thank you goes to all the volunteers who pitched in when they could. Many suffered damage to their homes and vehicles as well, and we really appreciate the time they took to help us.
By the way, thanks to its new dockage (courtesy of DD Holland), The Avian, our floating home that houses director Kelly Grinter, was spared any damage. Had it still been docked at Faro Blanco, it would have been in the parking lot! If that aint luck, we dont know what is!
Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund to the rescue
Having lost a lot of visitors to the Keys from hurricane evacuations, our bank account quickly bottomed out this past summer. Volunteer Lee Lapid took us in the right direction and filed for an emergency grant from the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund. Our sincere gratitude goes to Dr. Doug Mader, DVM, for his glowing recommendation. The Funds Board of Directors awarded us an emergency grant of $5,000. When we got it last week, we immediately used it to pay numerous bills, bringing us back into the black.
