Illustrated by Brittany & Christine Tortorella
Stubby & Rusty is a story my daughter and I wrote about a Pelican that gets caught in a fishing line and hook that was simply left in the ocean! His poor little wing couldn’t get free, and his foot had to be partially amputated, and that’s why we call him Stubby! This is a real problem for Pelicans and much of the Gulf Coast wildlife, including dolphins and turtles. It’s important for you to know what you can do to help prevent this from happening to other Pelicans like Stubby.
When prevention efforts fail, places like Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary takes in these animals, treats them, cares for them and releases them when they can. When they can’t, they keep the birds at the facility. Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary rescues between 30-50 birds every day and feeds all of its animals about 450 lbs of herring every day!! That’s a lot of fish, and it’s getting more and more expensive to feed all of these birds. This and other animal rescue organizations rely on the help and donations of other animal lovers to take care of these birds. The Seabird Sanctuary is trying to raise $100,000 to feed their birds in 2013.
For more information, visit seabirdsanctuary.com or visit our family foundation website at tortorellafoundation.org
