Here's the latest tragedy Trump caused by shutting down the government LOL:

Government shutdown strands Bert the pelican in Rhode Island
By Brian Amaral
Journal Staff Writer
Posted Jan 11, 2019 at 2:09 PM Updated Jan 12, 2019 at 12:20 AM

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BERT

Off-course pelican shouldn’t be in R.I., but government stopped issuing permits needed for relocation

The dock workers who came to know the unexpected visitor to Galilee called him Bert.

He had friendly brown eyes, which he used to solicit food scraps, and a gigantic mouth to scarf them down, never satisfying his voracious appetite.

But even as he became a local sensation, he was clearly out of place in Narragansett, and on a particularly cold Monday, the brown pelican that had delighted local birdwatchers was taken from the area by the Department of Environmental Management to a North Kingstown wildlife sanctuary.

And because of the federal government shutdown, he might be there for a while. The group that is caring for him says it can’t get the necessary federal permits to move him across state lines down south, complicating life for the mostly volunteer group, and for Bert. He is not the most urgent symbol of the federal government shutdown in Rhode Island, but certainly among the most bizarre.

“At this point he’s sort of stranded in Rhode Island,” said Kristin Fletcher, executive director of Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island, the group that is caring for the pelican at its Saunderstown sanctuary.

Brown pelicans are conspicuous, huge seabirds with throat pouches that can trap more than two gallons of water while they’re hunting for fish. Tottering on land, their throat-pouches flapping, they look a little ridiculous; on the hunt, they are unrepentant killers of fish and even other birds.

They are an unusual sight in Rhode Island, especially this time of year. A juvenile, the pelican currently in limbo may have been steered here by recent high winds. He was not accustomed to the cold weather, and if you can catch a wild animal, it’s probably in trouble, Fletcher said.

He also had some trouble fitting in with all the attention that came along with the novelty of a brown pelican in Rhode Island in January, the DEM says.

“Generally, DEM would only rescue an injured animal but Bert was probably so bothered by being blown off course that when he landed at the dock, he wasn’t taking kindly to all the people approaching him to take his picture, and was acting a bit aggressive,” Michael Healey, a spokesman for the DEM, said in an email. “So for Bert’s safety, one of our police officers (not named Ernie) took him to the wildlife rehab center to be cared for.”

After Hurricane Sandy, four juvenile male brown pelicans ended up in Rhode Island, so it’s not unprecedented, according to Fletcher, of the wildlife rescue group.

What is unprecedented is for them to end up here with nowhere to go due to an impasse in Washington, D.C.

Under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, people need permits to move many bird species over state lines. With the federal government shut down, those permits are not available, Fletcher said. They can’t even report the bird to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to Fletcher.

So the brown pelican is remaining at the shelter in Saunderstown, having gone through about 50 pounds of donated fish in a few days. He likes to sit on a perch by an artificial pool, and likes it when the people feeding him throw fish into the water so he can gobble them up himself.

“He’s kind of an endearing — he seems to be a little bit of an endearing goof,” Fletcher said.

His appetite is still strong, which is a good sign, but it’s not good for a wild animal to be in captivity for too long. The stress might eventually start to affect to him.

The sanctuary is also in a bind with its saw-whet owls, a small species native to North America. Some have come into the group’s care after being hit by cars, and the group would like to take one to Massachusetts for eye surgery. But that would cross a state line, so the organization is looking for another solution for the owl.

“We’re scrambling a little bit now to save his life,” Fletcher said.

The group is making do, and without federal permission to bring the animal over state lines, is planning to bring the owl to an animal eye doctor in Rhode Island.

“The fallout for this is just so broad that we don’t really even understand the full extent of how much is effected by the shutdown,” Fletcher said.

The Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, based in Florida, confirmed that it’s not just permits to move birds but other animal-rescue operations that have been complicated by the shutdown.

“This is also affecting our ability to report birds that have been shot or electrocuted to the appropriate officials and therefore delaying investigations into those matters,” the group said Friday.

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/2...in-rhode-island