HONOLULU — Sea Life Park is reopening its rescue and rehabilitation facilities for Hawaii’s native seabirds after being renovated.
The Seabird Rehabilitation Center and Seabird Sanctuary are reopening Jan. 15 after closing in September for renovations. The reopening event will include a Hawaiian blessing ceremony and an educational scavenger hunt.
The rehabilitation facility is used as triage for seabirds after they’re rescued, while the sanctuary is a home for those birds that are not able to be released back into the wild and can be viewed by the public. The renovated facilities feature new grounds and pools.
For those who plan to visit, Sea Life Park has COVID-19 guidelines that include wearing face masks for anyone age 2 and older while indoors, and showing a vaccine card with proof of being fully vaccinated or a negative test within the last 48 hours to dine at the Beach Boy Lanai.
The Seabird Rehabilitation Center was started by Sea Life Park in the 1970s in order to help native seabirds and educate the public to look out for distressed seabirds. Hawaii is home to 22 species of seabirds.
During breeding season, wedge-tailed shearwaters and Newell’s shearwater chicks are particularly vulnerable as they confuse street lights and other electric lighting for moonlight that distracts the flying fledgling birds, scrambles their thinking and leads them to crash.
The birds must be retrieved by humans, who help them become reoriented and hopefully airborne again. Otherwise, the seabirds are susceptible to being run over by a car or killed by cats, rats or mongooses. Sea Life Park helps hundreds of seabirds during this time.
Seabirds are also injured by marine debris, such as fishing lines, hooks or nets. As many as 95% of seabirds in Hawaii have ingested some plastic into their stomach.
“Sea Life Park has a long history of offering a place of refuge for marine animals that are injured, endangered, or deemed non-releasable,” said Valerie King, general manager, in a press release. “We are committed to protecting Hawaii's magnificent creatures and educating the public on what they can do to help. These dynamic renovations will further our work with native seabird species and improve our ability to share their amazing stories.”
In honor of the reopening, Sea Life Park is inviting people to vote to name two seabirds — a wedge-tailed shearwater and a brown bobby — who live at the Seabird Sanctuary. The winning names will be announced at the reopening event at 11:15 am.
The wedge-tailed Shearwater at the Seabird Sanctuary is described as gentle, curious and a lover of breakfast, while the Brown bobby is inquisitive, assertive, and loves to play with his food.
While Sea Life Park often releases rescued and rehabilitated back into the wild, the shearwater and brown bobby currently in the process of being named have been deemed too high risk to safely be released into the wild.
Besides these two newbies, the Seabird Sanctuary is a permanent home to five other seabirds: two wedge-tailed shearwater birds, one sooty shearwater, and two great frigatebirds. Seabirds are usually deemed unable to be released if they have injuries such as an abnormal wing or are blind in at least one eye.
The Rehabilitation Center is open 24 hours a day in order to help birds at the facility and receive any newly rescued seabirds. Sea Life Park also partners with the Hawaiian Humane Society and Feather and Fur Animal Hospital, where rescued seabirds may also be dropped off. Since 2005, over 4,000 seabirds have been rescued and released back into the wild.
