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June 09, 2005
Gift your Dad a wild life this Fathers Day
Holidays like Fathers Day always present the “what to give Dad” gift dilemma. The wildlife experts at International Bird Rescue Research Center are hoping kids will look beyond ties and toolboxes and log on to their website to adopt a live duck, heron, egret or pelican for dad. Best part is he doesn’t have to care for it.
Adopters don’t actually get the bird, but they do get a beautiful official certificate for the species they adopt, with the band number of their bird and the date and place of release. With over 500 orphans at the center, and another one thousand expected, IBRRC’s the adoption program is a way to help defray the cost of raising thousands of orphaned waterfowl so they can be returned to the wild. Every bird IBRRC releases gets a Federal band put on its leg. The number on the band identifies the bird for life.
“What’s so great about this program is that it allows the public to be a part of what we do,” said IBRRC Director, Jay Holcomb. “Hopefully it makes people feel a little empowered, just by the fact one bird is out there, that is theirs.”
Although pelican adoptions go for $200, ducklings can be adopted for twenty five dollars, and herons and egrets for fifty dollars. Adoptions include a one-year IBRRC membership.
Banded birds become lifetime subjects of study, and provide a great amount of useful data for researchers. IBRRC is one of only a few rehabilitation centers in the US that is part of the USFWS Federal Banding Program. Since 1972, IBRRC has banded over 50,000 birds.
Details on IBRRC and their adoption program can be found on their website at www.ibrrc.org or by calling 707-207-0380 extension 109.
Posted by Surfbirds at June 9, 2005 06:23 AM
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