Pink Floyd gets stoic pals

A flock of flamingos is taking over the landscape of the Great Salt Lake's shores.

An invasion? Not quite. These plastic birds are lining the water's edge to help a famed renegade flamingo feel he's not the only bird on the block.

Pink Floyd escaped from Salt Lake City's Tracy Aviary in 1990. Since his freedom flight from captivity, the flamingo has made the shores of the Great Salt Lake his winter home.

But it's not easy being pink — Floyd lives a lonely life.

Jim Platt said he wants to bring Floyd a live flock of friends, but for now, the plastic pals will have to do. An artist in his group, Friends for Floyd, recently placed 10 life-size flamingo replicas on the shore near the Saltair Pavilion.

"I can't speak for flamingos, but 16 years is certainly a long time," Platt said.

Floyd has a loyal fan base — a "loosely affiliated" group of 10 or so people called Friends for Floyd, which formed after seeing Floyd's mug on the front page of a local newspaper.

The group has lobbied former Gov. Mike Leavitt and Gov. Olene Walker to bring other flamingos to the Great Salt Lake to hang out with Floyd.

The vision is to bring in more flamingos from sources inside and outside the country to populate the area. In January, Platt sent Walker to help pave the way for 25 Chilean flamingos to call Utah their home.

Walker has seen the letter and plans to seek more information from the Department of Natural Resources, spokeswoman Amanda Covington said on Wednesday. Platt said he has yet to hear back from Walker's office.

The birds would actually be brought in from South America. Platt has four donors pledging a total of $25,000 and another donor willing to pay the difference to ship the birds to Utah. "It's kinda like multiply and replenish the Great Salt Lake with flamingos," Platt said. "It would just be a feather in Utah's cap if they would just have a flock of wild flamingos on the Great Salt Lake. It's just a perfect environment for them."

Not everyone likes the idea. In the past, critics have said they fear the introduction of a non-native bird species on the lake, its plants, the brine shrimp population and other birds.

Platt isn't the first to place fake pink flamingos near the Great Salt Lake. Sailboat dealer Dave Sharer started a similar tradition four years ago.

"When Pink Floyd takes off for the summer, we usually put the the pink flamingos out," Sharer said. "It makes a good conversation piece for the tourists."

But some visitors want to bring home a souvenir. "The tourists keep stealing them."

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com