Rare, exotic birds killed in fire

Sandra Salinas was in a panic.

Salinas, executive director of the Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary, awoke Friday morning to news that a fire was ripping through the facility she manages near Durango Road and Grand Teton Drive in the northwest part of the valley.

As she arrived, tears streamed down her face as she rushed to a group of Las Vegas firefighters and sanctuary board members who huddled near the entrance. The blaze had just been extinguished, but firefighters were not allowing staff inside.

She looked to the group for an answer: What happened?

The news was bad.

"They're all dead," cried Salinas a short time later, her panic giving way to grief as staff members consoled her. "How could this happen, how could this happen?"

Salinas said 156 birds and a guard dog perished in the fire, reported at 5:23 a.m. Staff reports estimate at least 60 exotic parrots died. Some breeds, such as the cockatoos and the peacocks, were almost entirely wiped out, the staff said.

An additional 35 birds were taken to an animal hospital in North Las Vegas for treatment. Fifty more parrots were being treated on site for smoke inhalation, Salinas said.

Dr. Clarissa Engstrom, a veterinarian who was dispatched to the eight-acre sanctuary Friday, said smoke inhalation is a serious threat to birds, explaining they have sensitive respiratory systems. Oxygen was being provided to affected birds. Engstrom said their care during the next 72 hours is critical, adding it's virtually impossible to know how many will survive.

"You're not going to be able to tell how many are going to make it over the next few days," Engstrom said. "Birds don't show signs of sickness until they are very, very sick."

Fire investigators have not yet determined the cause for the blaze, or given a damage estimate. Although the city's fire department battled the blaze, the investigation falls under Clark County's jurisdiction because the area is unincorporated land within city limits.

The sanctuary is home to about 1,500 abandoned animals, including parrots, cockatoos, peacocks and even a few ostriches, Salinas said. The facility also houses several types of barnyard animals, including goats, llamas, donkeys, and a mule deer fawn named Bambi.

Bambi survived the fire, as did the barnyard animals, but the birds in the path of the flames had no chance.

"There was nowhere they could go, nowhere they could fly," Salinas said. "They were just trapped."

Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said the fire started at the northern edge of the facility and spread to the sanctuary's rehabilitation building, a wooden structure that houses about 30 ill or injured animals at a given time.

When firefighters arrived, the rehabilitation building was consumed with flames. One of the staff members was on the roof of another building with a water hose, but his methods weren't effective, Szymanski said.

Firefighters assumed a defensive position around the building, and the fire was extinguished within 30 minutes, he said. The building, which burned quickly, had collapsed.

Salinas said the rehabilitation building housed many of the larger birds at the facility -- and the most exotic and rare, she said.

"These were people's pets that they couldn't take care of, and they sent them to us to be cared for," Salinas said. "They were rare. They were priceless."

Standing among the charred cages, Don White, a board member for the sanctuary, could only shake his head at the sad irony of the situation.

The sanctuary recently received a $4 million grant, $500,000 of which was to be used directly for renovations, the other $3.5 million to be invested into an endowment for future development, he said.

Architects had been hired to develop the sanctuary's cages into a modern aviary, which would have been more resistant to flames than wooden buildings that had stood for almost a century.

"We were working on a master plan for it (the renovations)," White said. "We were going to take a lot of this old stuff out of there. Now we'll have to tear everything out."

The sanctuary, which will be 40 years old this year, is a historical facility that has remained essentially unchanged since it was built in the 1920s by the Gilcrease family, aside from remodeling throughout the years.

Bill Gilcrease, now in his 90s, and his late brother, Ted, also developed a well-known fruit orchard near the nature sanctuary, both of which have survived decades of urban development.

Bill Gilcrease, who lives at the sanctuary, was sleeping when the fire started. He spent a majority of the morning wrapped in blankets in a van near his home. He wasn't injured, but fled the home quickly and wasn't dressed for the cold weather, said White.

Although the Fire Department hasn't determined a cause, there was speculation among staff that heat-lamps to warm the birds overnight may have been knocked over by strong winds, causing a spark.

But that is just one theory, Salinas said, adding that "not knowing why" the fire started is a huge weight on her shoulders.

Jessica Pigula, a member of the sanctuary's board of directors, recalled Friday afternoon how she would visit the sanctuary three times a week. Pigula developed a bond with a cockatoo from Indonesia with pinkish feathers.

"Some of my favorite birds died in the fire," she said. "There's one who used to sit on my shoulders and make me kiss him by leaning his beak toward my face."

Salinas said she was touched by how many people from several different organizations volunteered after word spread of the blaze. She said her phone had rung at least 100 times by Friday afternoon. Volunteers poured in throughout the day; 50 were at the sanctuary at any given time, Salinas said.

One was Nancy Steinke with the Las Vegas Agricultural Society. She visits the sanctuary every other weekend. After the fire started, she was "dressed and out the door" driving to the sanctuary in order to lend a helping hand.

Steinke said about 20 people from the agricultural society helped out at the sanctuary. She brought carriers to transport the birds from the facility to the animal hospital. She also helped organize volunteers.

Steinke, who takes care of several birds at her home including cockatoos and parakeets, said she was devastated. She herself has formed bonds with the animals many people don't understand.

"It's heartbreaking," Steinke said. "Birds have such a high intellect and ability to interact with humans."

The sanctuary, which is nonprofit and offers daily admission of $5 and under, is not a private collection of birds, Salinas said. It's a piece of the community -- an educational landmark that 5,000 students visit every year to learn about nature, she said.

The birds weren't just birds to the staff, she said. They were like family.

"The only good news is that some of them are still alive," Salinas said. "That's what keeps us going."

Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.