As many cities across the USA celebrate Gay Pride today, two pelicans who live at the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station in Miami, Florida remind us all that love is love. Brown pelicans Pepe and Enrique have lived together as a couple at the wildlife rehab center for the past 18 years.
Hannah MacDougall, director of communications at Pelican Harbor, told LGBQT Nation,
“They are our beautiful special boys. They’ve been building a nest together. They take turns incubating a fake egg that we give them.”
Apparently most brown pelicans are “seasonally monogamous” – loyal to a different mate each year (that sounds like some of my slutty friends lol), – but Pepe and Enrique continue to choose each other year after year. MacDougall explains that “one of the birds will kick off the courtship each year by presenting the other with a stick as a sign of affection.”
🏳️🌈 A gay pelican couple has stayed together for nearly two decades. Pepe and Enrique are living a “retirement home” lifestyle together in Florida, choosing each other every mating season & maintaining their nest & egg. (❤️is❤️) https://t.co/qtBQO3WkYb @lgbtqnation pic.twitter.com/81SYbIiV16
— Todd Stanfield 🏳️🌈 (@tstanfield) June 25, 2021
Due to their injuries, Pepe and Enrique are permanent residents of the center, and have been deemed “ambassador residents.” They not only provide educational opportunities for visitors of the center they have also helped foster a dozen baby pelicans. The baby pelicans came to the center after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. I mean, these two pelicans are seriously ROCK STARS!
Given their ambassador status Pepe and Enrique are available to be adopted ceremoniously. That means,
For $300, you can help cover the food and care for the lovely couple for about a year. The funding also allows their caretakers to learn more about their species. According to the website, adopters will receive a certificate and photograph of their adoptees, along with their story, a tax-exempt donation letter, and an invitation to see their new pals — under pandemic precautionary measures, of course (animals can catch COVID-19, too, although they haven’t had a positive animal yet).
MacDougall, when lovingly discussing Pepe and Enrique, says that,
They’re in love, they’re inseparable and always by each other’s side.”
More stories like this please! You can watch a livestream of the Seabird Station on their website or YouTube. Happy Pride Instincters!
Sources: EDGE Media Network, LGBTQ Nation
