Despite the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary's standing as a famous avian rehabilitation center, the facility is not without its share of controversy.
When Ralph Heath first started his rescue operation, critics derided him as inhumane for keeping crippled birds alive. The criticism quieted after Heath succeeded in breeding the first captive brown pelicans. Then, condo owners and a former Redington Beach mayor complained about the birds, so he moved them over to the other side of his property, which happened to be over the Indian Shores city line. Problem solved.
But the Sanctuary's latest problems have been less easy to solve. The nonprofit, which relies solely on private donations, has been in debt for years. Charity watchdog groups have given the Sanctuary negative ratings for its high administrative and fundraising costs. Last year, investigative reports by NewsChannel 8 reporter Mark Douglas raised questions about Heath's purchase of a 54-foot luxury sailboat.
Heath dismisses the reports, saying there was nothing improper about his purchase of a "research-and-charter boat" that he used to raise money for the sanctuary.
"A whole lot of that was misrepresentation," he says. "All these people want to do is make it sound like a party boat and not a research-and-charter boat."
Then there's the photographer who took revealing, though legal, pictures of scantily clad teenage girls on the Sanctuary's property.
"I had nothing to do with set-up, casting or crew," Heath defends. "We've allowed photographers to come out here and take pictures with the sanctuary for 40 years. … We don't criticize what the photographer does. Obviously I don't expect anybody to do anything illegal."
After the reports, several volunteers and management employees left the nonprofit. Its attorney also resigned. The Sanctuary closed for two days in February after failing to pay an insurance bill.
"I like saving something nobody thinks could ever make it," Heath says about his birds. "Just to prove it can be done. That's my reward — saving something that has zero chance."
That could apply as much to the Sanctuary as the birds it serves.
This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2007.