Pelican Harbor Seabird Station is a wildlife rescue service located at 1279 79th Street Causeway in Miami, Florida. With a 4.8 rating on Google from over 200 reviews, the station is known for its exceptional work caring for injured and orphaned wildlife. The station specializes in rescuing and rehabilitating seabirds, such as pelicans, but also takes in other native Florida wildlife, like owls and mockingbirds. Visitors are welcome to make donations to support the staff's hard work and dedication to wildlife rehabilitation. The Pelican Harbor Seabird Station hotline is open weekdays from 9AM to 5PM for anyone seeking assistance for sick or injured wildlife.
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Reviews
Found a small owl during my Sunday morning run. Reached out to Pelican H for assistance. I took the owl to their facility where it got physically evaluated and it was concluded that the bird was just fine and only needed to be renested. I took the owl back to the place where I found it and placed it on a tree branch inside a wicker basket that was provided by Pelican. Went to check the little guy the next morning and he was gone!..which was good news according to Pelican’s advice. Sara at Pelican Harbor was my main contact and advised me throughout the process. She was outstanding. Very knowledgeable and extremely helpful. Thank you!
An incredible resource in South Florida! When I found a tiny bird that had been attacked by cats, I naturally started to panic. I tried to help it but quickly realized that it had suffered too much damage. I quickly began to search for a place and was directed here. They were so quick to take the bird from me the moment I arrived; the front desk personnel were so sweet and knowledgeable. They even gave me a patient number to follow up on my rescue! Thank you so much!
Pelican Harbor Seabird Station provides rehab for injured and sick owls, cormorants, nite herons, etc the staff is very knowledgeable and competent! If you like wildlife check in on the seabird station! Make a small donation for the great work done by the staff!
We are so fortunate to have such a great organization with amazing staff as part of our community. This morning I found an injured bird in the canal off my deck, one quick call to Sarah at the Pelican seabird station and they were ready to take him in. They communicated quickly and thanks to the seabird station, Patient #50 will hopefully make a full recovery and go back into the wild soon.
I just can say God Bless them for such amazing dedication to heal God's creation. God bless every single human who works in this foundation. I don't have words to really describe their work. Thank you for everything that you do ❤️
Sarah was a great asset to the presentation given today at Williams Island. It was wonderful having her and the animal ambassadors.
Sarah was extremely knowledgeable and great with the children and parents! So grateful for the experience and looking forward to doing it again. Would definitely recommend for locals or anyone who is interested in learning.
I normally don't write these sorts of reviews. However, I feel that it is important that I share my experience with Pelican Harbor Seabird Station and their bird rescue efforts.
I was given a baby dove by a lady that knew I took care of birds before. Even though I have experience taking care of birds I felt it was in the best interest of this dove to get it over to professional rehabilitation experts. Pelican Harbor sounded like the perfect place to do just that.
When I arrived there I was greeted by a staff member who took the bag I had the bird in and put it in another room. They then proceeded to tell me how much Pelican Harbor Seabird Station worked to help birds, and how hard it was financially for them. They again and again made certain to highlight that they were a non-profit and were in desperate need of donations. I gave them what I had in my wallet at the time, which wasn't much, and felt pretty guilty about giving such a small amount. I made a mental note while driving back that when I came back I'd donate a lot more, because I felt that their "expert care" of this poor bird was worth it.
Before leaving, I asked under what circumstances did they euthanize birds there, and was told this rarely happened and only if the bird were injured and was beyond the possibility of a medical intervention. This did not worry me because I examined the dove carefully and he seemed in perfect health.
One thing that struck me with this interaction was the lack of interest that was given to the bird. The staff member didn't even look at the bird. I brought to their attention multiple times that the bird had not eaten in a while, and they shrugged it off. The main focus of my visit seemed to be simply to solicit donations. Having said this, if the bird was actually looked after and taken care of I would have nothing but good things to say about them and would gladly have donated a lot more.
Three days later I called in asking about the status of the baby dove. I was told the dove was eating well and placed in a cage with other doves. During this conversation I got a weird feeling something wasn't right. The response of how the dove was doing seemed overly descriptive and embellished.
Because of this weird feeling, I decided to call again a week later. During this call I discovered the bird had actually been euthanized soon after dropping it off. During the bird's intake they performed x-rays that showed the bird was badly injured. They claimed the bird could not be rehabilitated and was in a lot of pain. During this call I also discovered the bird was not a mourning dove as I had originally thought, but actually a non-endemic Eurasian collared dove.
After further research, I discovered Pelican Harbor Seabird Station is not allowed to treat Eurasian collared doves. So there would be no reason for them to x-ray this bird, in fact telling me they did might be an admission of violating Florida policy. I brought this to their attention and they agreed that they indeed could not work with Eurasian collared doves.More calls were made after and again the story continued to evolve. It seems like maybe there were never any x-rays done now.
So what really happened?
It seems like Pelican Harbor Seabird Station wants your money. Rather than turning me away because they couldn't care for the bird, they chose to euthanize it. Rather than telling me the truth they chose to create an elaborate story.
I can't tell you if this is 100% what happened, I'll never know the truth. But the amount of times the story has changed and the interactions I had with them do not paint them in a good light.
All of this could have easily been avoided if they simply took some interest in looking at the bird I gave them and told me they were unable to care for it. If indeed they did have to euthanize it when it was under their care because the bird was not endemic, they could have clearly stated that, instead of making up a bunch of stories.
In closing, I cannot recommend Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, nor will I ever bring another bird to them again.
Location
1279 79th Street Causeway, Miami, FL 33138, United States
Hours
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Monday
09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
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Tuesday
09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
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Wednesday
09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
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Thursday
09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
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Friday
09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
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Saturday
09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
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Sunday
09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
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