The Fourth of July bombs were frightful for the birds.
Across the island, the July 4 holiday is celebrated with firecrackers, bottle rockets, and other explosives despite laws, appeals from law enforcement, firefighters, vets and conservationists.
The owners and volunteers of one local operation, the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center of Bradenton Beach, see first-hand the impact of fireworks on birds and other wildlife.
Wildlife Inc., founded by Gail and Ed Straight in 1987, is the county’s only licensed bird, mammal and reptile wildlife rehabilitation facility.
Each year, the Straights rescue and house about 3,000 animals at their facility in every nook and cranny of their home at 2207 Ave. B on a 50-by-100-foot lot.
Many types of animals find their way to the facility, including foxes, otters, owls, deer and ospreys.
Some animals wound up at Wildlife Inc. over the July 4 holiday weekend.
“The morning of (July 5) we received quite a few birds whose parents had abandoned the nest,” volunteer Krista Carpenter told The Islander July 7.
Exploding fireworks can cause birds to fly off, abandoning eggs and chicks.
Birds weren’t the only wildlife to suffer.
“We actually lost an animal at the rescue because, down the street, they had been setting off fireworks,” Carpenter said. “Small animals, like rabbits, have small hearts and it passed away literally out of fear.”
The rabbit had been rehabbed and would have been released soon, she said.
A Wildlife Inc. neighbor, Lynn Selander, who lives in the 2100 block of Avenue B, told The Islander July 7 that woodpecker hatchlings that were living in a tree in her yard perished after a prolonged fireworks barrage over the holiday weekend.
“I’ve been fostering red-bellied woodpeckers in a dead tree in my front yard. They laid a nest and I could hear the hatchlings,” Selander said.
Over the holiday weekend, the occupants of a nearby vacation rental celebrated with fireworks.
“It was a weekly renter but chiming in were monthly renters next door,” she said, adding that the fireworks rained down in her yard.
Parent birds abandoned the nest and their babies perished, Selander said.
In 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 140 into law giving people 18 or older the ability to buy fireworks to use on New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve and Independence Day.
The county and municipalities have their own regulations prohibiting fireworks. On Anna Maria Island, fireworks are prohibited by the cities.
To learn more about Wildlife Inc., go online to wildlifeinc.org or call 941-778-6324.