Wild Bird Center issues trespass warnings to former staffers and volunteers, board chairman says 'reasons are pretty obvious'

Several former employees and volunteers at the Florida Keys Wild Bird Rehabilitation Center received trespass notices late Wednesday night banning them from the center's Tavernier properties.

This list includes Joan Scholz, a three-year executive director lauded by the bird center in August 2014 when she stepped down.

"I was stunned," Scholz said Friday. "Someone came to my house in a car around 10 [p.m. Wednesday] and handed me a piece of paper.... I'm totally at a loss. I have no idea why this happened."

Bird Center board chairman John Stuart said Friday that the nonprofit organization's board has authorized "several no-trespass notices to ex-employees and individuals that have been taking action against the bird center and the organization."

He said "less than 10" people received notices. They warn the recipients that they "are not authorized, permitted or invited to enter or remain" at the bird center sanctuary at mile marker 93.6, or the new rehabilitation facility at mile marker 92.

"You are further advised that if you trespass on said property, we intend to pursue criminal charges through the State Attorney's Office and Monroe County Sheriff's Office," it continues.

The reasons "are pretty obvious to most observers in the community," Stuart said. He referred other questions to the center's attorneys, who declined comment Friday.

Others receiving the trespass notices include Miami resident Lloyd Brown, founder of Wildlife Rescue of Dade County, and Key Largo wildlife activist Rick Trout, along with recently terminated center employees.

"After all I put into that place," Scholz said. "I made sure that [rehabilitation] building was paid for. Now I can't set foot in it."

At the rehabilitation center's dedication in August 2014, Stuart praised Scholz's "passion, dedication and energy she brought to the organization every single day."

"Joan successfully brought an organization that was on the cusp of having to close its doors to becoming a strong, sustainable and flourishing wild bird center," a bird center statement said.

Scholz, a longtime center volunteer and former board member before being named executive director, said she has had virtually no contact with the center since she resigned.

When center executives terminated well-known wildlife rehabilitator Amanda Margraves two months ago, Scholz praised Margraves as the center's "heart and soul."

Bird center staff has said they cannot discuss reasons for employee dismissals.

Trout said he remembers volunteering with the late Laura Quinn, who founded the bird center nearly three decades ago.

"I wonder if they tried to serve a notice on Laura Quinn, too," Trout said. "I guess my annual Christmas shopping spree at the bird center has come to an end. I've spent hundreds of dollars on T-shirts there."

Trout acknowledged that after his friend Margraves was fired, he photographed some center structures. The images later were sent to Monroe County Code Compliance as possible violations. "Even then, I spent $70 on shirts," Trout said. "But I was not impressed with their operation."

Kelly Grinter, founder of the Marathon Wild Bird Center, said Brown and Trout were volunteers in Tavernier "when I interned with Laura Quinn 20 years ago. I know Rick and Lloyd would bend over backwards to help the birds."

"I'm not happy about this whole thing," Grinter said. "I have no clue what's going on up there but I know we never had this kind of drama before, and it's totally unnecessary drama."

On Nov. 18, Florida Keys Wild Bird Center staff reported to the Sheriff's Office that a center vehicle, tools and X-ray equipment were stolen in a burglary. Current executive director Janeen Simon's residence also was burglarized, they said. Losses, mostly insured, were estimated at $50,000. No items have been recovered and no arrests have been made.

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Wild Bird Center issues trespass warnings to former staffers and volunteers, board chairman says 'reasons are pretty obvious'."