IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Gina Thomsen
Humans, birds, manatees, dolphins … she helps them all
Gina Thomsen has a passion for life…the life of every creature she encounters. Thomsen is sometimes known as “the bird lady,” but she is really the “every living creature” lady. If you want evidence of that, go swimming or paddleboarding with her in the Gulf sometime. The dolphins and manatees know her board and honor her presence by seeking her out. She is known by some as the dolphin and manatee whisperer.
Birds are her focus these days, though. She is a volunteer rescuer for the Friends of the Pelicans, headquartered in Bradenton; the Peace River Wildlife Center in Punta Gorda; and the Wildlife Center of Southwest Florida, in Venice. Along the way she may rescue a drowning raccoon or a turtle trying to cross the road, but the pelicans are the ones who seem to need the most attention right now.
“The wildlife here is much more abundant than in some places,” she noted, “so it really keeps me busy. About a year or so ago I connected with Friends of the Pelicans, and they were looking for volunteers to check the rookeries and rescue sea birds, and there was a demand in this area, so I started getting involved.
“I started getting on my paddleboard and going around, checking rookeries and the bayous here.” She was looking for fishing lines that were endangering sea birds’ lives, birds who had already been caught in lines, and other dangerous situations for the local wildlife. “I can get into hidden places wth my paddleboard and see the fishing line and caught birds and animals,” she said.
Thomsen also spends her time educating people. “I do education along the piers, explaining to people about not cutting the line, and what happens if they do cut the line. How it is a death sentence for the birds.”
She pointed out that it is mostly visiting fishermen and fisherwomen, not local residents, who are unaware of the cost of simply cutting the line if a bird gets hooked instead of a fish. Not only can it endanger the bird that is caught, but the line can stay in the water or along the shore and strangle or twist around any bird or animal’s beaks, wings, legs, etc. It can result in starvation, drowning or other injury that leads to death, often in a slow and painful way.”
Even talking about such consequences is uncomfortable for Thomsen. She tries to focus more on life than death. She, herself, is a survivor, and she has commited her life to helping others survive. Her mother died when Thomsen was only 6, and her father died when Thomsen was a teenager. She lived with relatives and in foster homes for most of her childhood, and was on her own at 17.
In high school Thomsen was given a job at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary in Indian Shores, near St. Petersburg. This was part of a program for underprivileged children, to give them wholesome, positive experiences. She was trained as a lab assistant.
“That’s where I got started with my birds,” she said, “but I’ve always been rescuing wildlife my whole life, no matter what it is … turtles, snakes, birds, frogs, whatever.”
Looking much younger than her 59 years, Thomsen has lived in Englewood for the last eight years. She shares a home with her boyfriend and two dogs. She is tanned and fit, reflecting her active outdoor life. She paddleboards for fun as well as for her “job,” and also loves to go kayaking, boating and camping.
In addition to spending so much of her time volunteering, Thomsen owns the Paradise Housekeeping Service, Inc., serving Boca Grande and the surrounding areas. She works closely with Boca Grande Vacations, turning over their rentals. She and her three employees also do some private cleaning. She has owned the business since the first of the year.
Before getting so involved in the area of wildlife rescue, Thomsen was a volunteer of another type.
“I used to feed the homeless in Englewood,” she said. But she did not just serve food, she did all the cooking and prepackaging for 40 to 80 meals a day. When she started doing the bird rescue, she had to admit that it “was way overwhelming to do both. I was starting the business, and it was hard not knowing when I was getting home to feed the homeless, rescue the birds and work, so something had to go. There were plenty of volunteers for the homeless, but the wildlife, especially in this area, was lacking volunteers, so I just kind of moved my efforts strictly to this.”
Earlier in her career Thomsen was in banking and finance; and she and her former husband owned a high-end appliance repair business some years ago. She has lived in Massachusetts and New Jersey and St. Petersburg, at various times of her life. She credits this varied experience with helping her in all that she does today.
“I think everything you do gives you skills,” she said. “I was always in management,” and then owning a company topped off her business education. “I learned a lot of my business skills from there,” she said.
And some of those skills have served her well in her volunteer work as well as her business ventures. Knowing how to network, assessing new situations and thinking “outside the box” are among them. Thomsen tells of recent rescues of loons, pelicans, doves and raccoons when she could have been seriously injured if she had not known how to handle difficult situations and to be ready for the unexpected.
“I’ve gone on that board during red tide, with a mask on and everything,” she recalled. “I was just telling the water, ‘Please don’t poison me.’ ” She does wear gloves and a mask for some rescues, and even something similar to a hazmat suit in some situations.
She shrugs off much of the danger, though, explaining that she has been doing rescues all her life. “And I did have training from the Friends of the Pelicans, so I have some formal training. I went out several times with one of their rescuers so I could get tips and pointers on how to capture an injured bird.”
She went on: “I had not climbed a tree, except when I was a little kid, so they taught me how to get up in a tree to rescue a bird, how to net them, because that’s a tough one, especially since a lot of times I am by myself, trying to handle a scared bird. Sometimes I have to call someone in a boat to help, or otherwise get someone to help me.” She paused and recollected the experiences: “It can be interesting!”
Thomsen enjoys Boca Grande and its people. She wishes more of them would volunteer to help teach about the dangers of castoff fishing line, as well as how to help protect the area’s wildlife. She would like more people picking up discarded fishing line or offering to be transporters of injured animals or birds. She wishes there were fewer pesticides and feritlizers used on the Island so fewer species would be sickened by it.
“There is a lot of education to be done,” she said. “I would like people to be more considerate of our environment. I really feel that a lot of our ignorance is what is destroying our planet. I think we can have a beautiful Boca Grande without putting so much money into lawn chemicals.It would be nice for us to go more green and just be considerate.”
Another thing Thomsen would like to see happen is to have more refuges where injured or sick birds and animals can live out their lives. At present, if they cannot be returned to the wild, they are euthanized. Most shelters can only accommodate a small number of long-term residents. “Every bird deserves to live,” is the rallying cry of the Friends of the Pelicans…and Thomsen’s rallying cry as well.
Asked how people know to call her for rescues, Thomsen said a story in the Boca Beacon has been a big help, and then word just gets around. “I also have a knack for observing when something is not right in the environment, so I often come across birds in trouble on my own.” She is more than happy to give out her number to those who wish to join her in her volunteer work, or who want to report a creature in need of rescue, or even if they need her cleaning services. It is (941) 375-9551.
