Don't feed the birds

[JABIII]

A tourist fed pelicans in Key West. His response to state wildlife officers sent him to jail.

GWEN FILOSA
APRIL 30, 2022

AM In this 2019 photo, a juvenile brown pelican is shown damaged from being intentionally fed. The pelican died from the injuries. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission In the Florida Keys, law enforcement takes illegal fishing — and illegal wildlife feeding — very seriously. The island chain is a place where you can get jail time for taking undersized snapper or out-of-season spiny lobster. Feeding a pelican can also have legal consequences.

One tourist learned this the hard way last week. Dominick E. Ciletti Jr., 57, of Alpharetta, Georgia, landed in jail after throwing dolphinfish scraps at pelicans that were hanging around a cleaning station at a Key West marina as he filleted the mahi-mahi, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Ciletti was at the city marina, 1801 N. Roosevelt Blvd., on April 23, when FWC officers said they saw him and another man throwing fish to pelicans — an illegal act in Florida. State wildlife officers said they tried to give him a notice-to-appear citation, which would have required him to show up at the Monroe County Courthouse in May. But things escalated when Ciletti became belligerent and raised his voice, FWC said. “I’m not coming back here to go to court, that’s bull----!” Ciletti said, according to the arrest report. Refusing to accept a citation is a misdemeanor.

An FWC officer put Ciletti in handcuffs and took him to the county jail on Stock Island. Ciletti was released the same day after posting a $328 cash bond. Efforts to reach Ciletti were unsuccessful. His attorney listed in court records did not immediately reply to an email Friday evening. Ciletti is due in court May 11 before Monroe County Judge Mark Wilson.

Feeding pelicans in Florida is illegal because fish carcasses and sharp bones can puncture their pouches, as seen in this file photo from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission The other man FWC said was tossing fish to the pelicans, a charter boat mate, signed his citation without incident.

A press release from FWC said the two men were throwing whole dolphinfish carcasses and smaller pieces to the pelicans, but didn’t specify who threw what. Feeding pelicans is illegal because it can cause them serious harm.

Fish carcasses and sharp bones can injure or kill them by puncturing their throats, or get lodged in their pouches, according to FWC, which asks people to toss unwanted fish into trash cans with lids. Pelicans also tend to congregate where people feed them, and that puts them in places where they’re more likely to get tangled up in fishing line or hooked.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/loc...#storylink=cpy

[fowlshot]

So you can’t feed a pelican, a bird who eats fish, fish?

[scquackaddict]

There’s some pelicans at Tolers that are lucky to be alive. I mean I guess I understand the not patterning wild animals to human food sources but seems a little much. A simple quit feeding the pelicans probably would have sufficed. Also though the guy sounds like a dickhead yankee.

[wskinner]

A simple quit feeding the pelicans probably would have sufficed.

How are they supposed to make money that way

[LC17]

What's the difference between feeding the pelicans and throwing your scraps in the water next to the cleaning table where pelicans hang out?

[Palmetto Bug]

The scraps from a pelagic fish have bones that a pelican, nor any other bird, is able to swallow and digest. Imagine a 3 inch chunk of big dolphin cut from a few inches behind the gills. The backbone has long, straight, nail shaped bones several inches long radiating outward. If you wanted to design something to kill pelicans, it might look just like that.

Any marina that has even a modest amount of scraps is smart to haul them into deep water not nearby or upwind. Toler's Cove used to dump their fish scrap cans out in the middle of the intracoastal just down from the bridge. At times during the summer, the smell of the rotting fish in 20 feet of water would cause a gag reflex when you rode by.

Bohicket Marina let folks throw scraps out at the cleaning tables and they had some big bull sharks set up residence under the docks.

[BEAR]

We were at Robbie’s in Islamorada a couple of weeks ago. I was laying on the dock feeding a Tarpon when a Pelican grabbed my right big toe. Does that count as feeding? The pelican lived.

[JABIII]

At times during the summer, the smell of the rotting fish in 20 feet of water would cause a gag reflex when you rode by.

Your finger is on the problem. In the 70's we had a dumpster at the marina just for the carcasses. It sucked. Worse than sucked, really, because everything that people caught, they hauled in to the marina for pictures. (Ring a bell?) Sailfish, white marlin, blues, whatever. Here goes another sail...

[DRDUCK]

Damn that boat ramp brings back memories. Saw our Gov at the time Carroll, ram a sporty and put a hole in the side of it. We used to sit in the rockin chairs and just watch the show.

[GMAC]

Fools. Smoked sail is pretty good.

[Geetch]

Birds aren't real.

[swampknob]

Cleaning the docks at shillings always sucked in the mornings. 6:30 am, hungover, and removing rotting cobia heads caught up in all the boat slips and grass.

[FEETDOWN]

Your finger is on the problem. In the 70's we had a dumpster at the marina just for the carcasses. It sucked. Worse than sucked, really, because everything that people caught, they hauled in to the marina for pictures. (Ring a bell?) Sailfish, white marlin, blues, whatever. Here goes another sail...

That's a bad ass T Shirt that dude has on....

[BigBrother]

We always would just dump our carcasses off the docks on the ICW at Vereens and Little River Fish docks. Somebody caught a monster bull shark off LR docks a few years ago. I watched a guy try to heave ho a 60lb tuna to his buddy who missed and watched it go splash into the water. They fished with gaffs for a while but finally gave up. I learned new cuss words that day.

[JABIII]

Cleaning the docks at shillings always sucked in the mornings. 6:30 am, hungover, and removing rotting cobia heads caught up in all the boat slips and grass.

Nobody got behind the whole "Catch and Release" "Let them grow" thing than the people who ran marinas...

[Duck Tape]

So we don't want to make animals dependent on humans, right?

Teach a man to fish...

[Maggie Glover]

SCDNR had a picture of a family feeding petting and feeding a pod bottle-nosed dolphin at the docks in Charleston on the cover of the Hunting Fishing Guide one year. Someone called HQ when they arrived at bait shops to ask them if it was still illegal to "molest, feed or touch marine mammals" as I think the law reads. That was the day the panic set in and they began the recall of all of those guides and had to re-print. I'll try to find the picture and post it. MG

[BigBrother]

There used to be a dolphin that lived at the Little River Jetties. He had a brand on his back. He'd beg from the crabbers for bait. I heard, (take it for what you will) that he sunk one guy in a carolina skiff because he jumped up on the front of the boat expecting food.