SARASOTA BAY – Two Sarasota residents helped save “Pandemic Peli”
Geri and her Nephew, Jackson Chafee were kayaking on Sarasota Bay when they encountered something unusual on a channel marker.
“She was obviously in distress, usually when you get that close to birds they move away and she just seemed like she really wanted us to pay attention and help her in some way,” said Geri and Jackson Chaffee, who helped rescue the pelican.
Geri and Jackson say they did not know who to call
“We just called 9-1-1, you’re always a little scared… will this be considered an emergency… But it was so distressing,” said Chaffee.
A couple of phone calls later, and a rescuer from Save Our Sea Birds, was on their way on a borrowed boat from a neighbor
“It was spectacular to watch, I’ve never seen anything like it but Dave was confident he was very focused and that bird was going to get saved,” said Chaffee.
David Pilston, Chief Executive Officer of Save Our Seabirds, says the organization receives over 5000 rescue calls per year.
“And it’s our goal to rehabilitate and release every single one and of course the ones who can’t be released we give them permanent homes in what we call our wild bird learning center or the bird walk,” said Chief Executive Officer of Save our Seabirds, David Pilston.
Pilston says if you see a bird in distress, you shouldn’t hesitate to call.
“We can either walk you through it in some cases or send out our rescuer as we did in this case,” said Pilston.
The ‘Pandemic Peli’ as Geri Chaffee calls her, is now recovering at Save Our Seabirds.
For more information on Save our Seabirds, you can visit their website.
