Tiger Bill's Wildlife Rescue

09/09/2023

A rare encounter of a black tiger, a majestic, solitary predator with a striking ebony coat, marking its territory.

04/24/2022

About that "bird flu" ... 🦅.. seems to affect mostly waterfowl but also raptors & scavenging species i.e. gulls, vultures & bald eagles ... Florida is at top of list of bald eagle fatalities due to this flu w_9 known cases 🦅

The current avian flu outbreak in North America appears to be less of a concern for feeder birds. It’s more worrisome for birds of prey.

03/15/2021

Mr. Pelican at his stay here was short ...

03/15/2021

Got call yesterday about 5 pm from a guy having dinner on deck of Rusty Bellies about this pelican he spotted that had been laying in the rocks by the marina next door, since morning according to a waitress there. They thought it may have a fish hook & line impeding it, as often happens. Told him to go ahead & call one of the bird rescues that deal w/pelicans to see if they were available to pick bird up & to keep me posted. Since I'm not far from there I took a ride over to check it out. When I approached it, it was laying motionless. I thought it had died, until I got a little closer & it suddenly came to life, flapping its wings to get away, but it didn't get far. I used my net & a sheet to wrap it up in & got it into a crate. I heard some cheers & clapping behind me & turned to see it was the people on Rusty Bellies deck. I then called the guy who called to see if he was still there & if he had reached the rescue. He was gone but said, he did reach them & they were sending someone from Dunedin. I knew who that would be & called him. He said yes, he was on his way. I told him I could wait for him there or take it home & he could pick it up there. He got flustered & said he didn't want to go any further than necessary & then said he'd check w/the rescuer who sent him. I waited for a while .. crickets ... I called the other rescuer & him back but neither answered nor returned my calls. Both had flaked out apparently & just left me hanging for another 20 minutes waiting for response. A 2 second text letting me know they weren't coming after all, would've been nice. I then left & took the bird home & made a couple more calls to other pelican rescue peeps to see if they might be available . Left msgs. but didnt hear back right away, so got the pelican boxed up & ready to transport. I was just about to put him in car to take to one of the Emergency Vets who work w/rehabbers, when Jeannette from Friends of Pelicans returned my call. She contacted bird rescuer Kim in Dunedin, who I had also left a msg with & said she could meet me to make the pickup. She called & we arranged to meet at Publix in Tarpon to make the handoff. Perfect! I needed to do a little grocery shopping there anyway. She took pelican home for the night to hydrate & check out & would take it with her in morning to drop off at the seabird rehab, on her way to the Skyway fishing pier to look for more pelicans in distress out there. No idea what was wrong with it, but it wasn't a hook & line issue & neither wing was broken. It was mighty feisty snapping that long beak. I have a couple vids of it at that I'll post. Can't do photos & vids in post for some reason. 1st pic sent from caller, taken from deck of R.B.'s other 2 in my front yard.

03/05/2021

Got a call the other day about this limping in a pkg. lot in
Gave the people the names of a couple other rescue groups to call, who may have someone in that area, tho not sure the stork needed rescuing. Never heard back so don't know what the outcome was. Hopefully the bird is okay ...

02/14/2021

Got a call last night about this
from a lady who said her husband had hit it out in Wesley Chapel. Told her to have him call me. The next call I got I asked if it was the guy with owl. He was surprised & asked "how did you know"? Your wife called too, I replied. He said he thought it had glanced off the car roof & was laying in road when he stopped. He moved it onto sidewalk where it gradually came to & stood but was not moving from spot. I asked if he could secure the owl in a box or something & take to emergency vet that works w/rehabbers but he was afraid to go near it but said he'd go home for a box to try. I then got another call from the guys father. Told him I was already talking to junior & had also given him the # to the closest raptor rescue group to call.
Didn't hear back from him but when I followed up with him this morning he informed me that he did contact them & they did come out to pick up the owl. 🦉

02/14/2021

goose be takin' a bath 💦
Saturday afternoon at
The not so doin' it's thang ... will be going to join a coupla other geese of it's own kind at the on Monday where it will live out it's life in peace & safety ...