NSBNEWS.net videos by Sera Frederick
The video to the left shows bird rescuer Marilyn Sullivan appealing to the city to put up signs informing people not to feed pelicans because it makes them more aggressive and dependent on humans for food. The video to the right captures pelicans along the Intracoastal Waterway in New Smyrna Beach just north of Riverside Park.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Bird rescuer Marilyn Sullivan appealed to the City Commission to put up signs alerting people not to feed pelicans.
"They are getting so aggressive because people are feeding them," she said. "It is against the law in Florida to feed pelicans." Sullivan said that perhaps if people stopped feeding the pelicans they'd become less aggressive.
City Manager Pam Brangaccio told the commissioners that not only could the city put up signs, but also put an announcement on the Web site, which the city had posted for several weeks.
Here is a link to Florida law prohibiting the feeding of pelicans:
http://myfwc.com/Newsroom/08/statewide/News_08_X_Pelicans.htm
FAST FACTS
It is a myth that Brown Pelicans can go blind from diving into the ocean. Pelicans can live and fish for up to thirty years without going blind.[2] Pelicans can go blind from pollution, abuse and disease, including chemical spills near the coast, fishing line, and avian botulism from tainted fish caught in overly warm water.
Pesticides like DDT and dieldrin threatened the Brown Pelican's future in the southeast United States and California in the early 1970s. Pesticides also threatened the pelican population in Florida in this period.
A research group from the University of Tampa headed by Dr. Ralph Schreiber conducted research in the Tampa Bay/St Petersburg area and found that DDT caused the pelican eggshells to be too thin and incapable of supporting the embryo to maturity. As a result of this research, DDT usage was eliminated in Florida and the rest of the country.
The Brown Pelican was listed as endangered since 1970 when its numbers dipped to 10,000. However, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List has listed the Brown Pelican as Least Concern since 1988. The US government remedied the situation by imposing a ban on the use of DDT in 1972.
Since then, the population of Brown Pelican had been climbing and was removed from the list in November 2009. Current estimates place the population at 650,000 individuals.
Source: Wikipedia, online research