4 September 4-10, 2025 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | NEWS | LETTERS | CONTENTS | 3 MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ BOCA RATON EVICT THE OWLS FAU EXPANSION THREATENS THE SCHOOL’S OWN MASCOT. BY KAT GRIMMETT F lorida Atlantic University (FAU) is displacing its na- tive neighbor and mascot, the burrowing owl, as the school expands its main campus in Boca Raton. Once the owls flee, FAU staff fill the empty burrows with sand ahead of construction for a new housing unit. A five-year plan involves two more fields containing owl habitat, while student activists demand that further development be rerouted and supple- mented with conservation efforts. In 2024, the university secured an Inci- dental Take permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Com- mission (FWC), allowing manage- ment to “non-lethally harass” burrowing owls to force relocation. The National Audubon Society designated FAU’s Boca Raton campus as an official bur- rowing owl sanctuary in 1971. “To check the burrows, a FWC-trained bi- ologist performed video scoping to confirm that no eggs or flightless young were present prior to any activity,” Joshua Glanzer, an FAU spokesperson, says. “Once a burrow was con- firmed to be empty, it was collapsed to pre- vent re-burrowing.” When students discovered the develop- ment plans earlier this year, they began to mobilize: contacting administration and local news stations, and sitting in at development meetings. A Change.org petition to save the owls, started by South Florida wildlife vid- eographer and environmentalist Theo Que- nee, has garnered over 12,000 signatures. “I called them up as soon as it happened,” Liam Baysura, the former vice president of FAU’s Sustainability Club, says. “We were ad- amant about getting the university admin to respond to us. We didn’t want to halt devel- opment; we just wanted a conversation, but we never heard back, and they are still pro- ceeding with the development.” Seventy percent of FAU’s 29,000 students take classes at the university’s largest campus in Boca Raton. This fall, the university welcomed the largest freshman class in its 61-year history. “It’s kind of a slap to the face when they’re going to kick off our own mascot instead of becoming a more prestigious university, be- cause we have room for renovation in the ex- isting buildings,” Baysura says. “This isn’t just a university issue; this is a statewide issue. We’re seeing development everywhere. It’s going to happen, but it needs to happen in a manner of respect.” The petition calls on FAU to conserve two fields on the southeast side of the Boca Raton campus as protected viewing areas. The uni- versity, meanwhile, plans to build new housing next to the fields. Construction on an accompa- nying parking lot is already underway and ex- pected to be completed in time for students to move in by fall 2026. “That’s the land that we’re fighting now; there are owls on that piece of land,” Juliana Soto, an FAU student and animal activist, says. “Many years before this, there were tons of owls, and now they’re being sanded. The burrows are being sanded, the burrows are being invaded by Igua- nas, and FAU doesn’t want to do any- thing about it.” Early last year, Soto discovered plans for an FAU parking garage on an acre of land near the entrance to Tor- tuga Trail, a preserve flanking the northwest side of campus. In addition to burrowing owls, the pristine park is home to gopher tortoises, birds, snakes, and even coyotes. Soto contacted news stations to call attention to the pro- posed parking lot. FWC designated the burrowing owl a state-threatened species in 2017, prohibiting people from taking, pos- sessing, or selling the owls, their nests, or eggs without a permit. Earlier this month, FWC ap- proved new guidelines to aid in burrowing owl conservation, including clear standards for how developers must compensate for damage when a project disrupts natural habitats. But the stricter policies do not apply to the devel- opment at FAU. “FAU’s current permit falls under Cate- gory 2, which covers projects like campus de- velopment that impact burrows and surrounding habitat but do not result in loss of more than 50 percent of suitable foraging habitat,” FWC spokesperson Lisa Thompson shared in an email to New Times. “Once a per- mit is issued, its conditions remain in effect for the full term of the permit. New require- ments only apply to applications submitted after the revised Guidelines take effect.” For now, FAU’s Boca Raton campus still has land set aside for burrowing owl habitat. “I hope that FAU does their part as an owl sanctuary to preserve and conserve that area,” Soto says, “like removing the iguanas and putting up a sign that there are owls here.” | RIPTIDE | Burrowing owls face eviction as FAU builds new housing on its Boca Raton campus, prompting student activism and preservation demands. Photo by Renee Grayson via Flickr ▼ MEDIA PAWN STAR? TV REPORTER BUSTED FOR STEALING — AND PAWNING — HIS NEIGHBOR’S ROLEX. BY ALEX DELUCA A local TV reporter has been arrested for allegedly stealing — and then pawning — his neighbor’s $16,000 Rolex. As first reported by WPLG Local 10 News, po- lice say WSVN-ABC News reporter Michael Hu- dak stole the pricey timepiece from his neighbor while the latter was traveling around Barcelona, Spain, for several weeks in July. According to a Miami Police Department (MPD) arrest report, Hudak, 29, had a spare key to his neighbor’s home intended for “emergency use only.” When the neighbor returned from his trip abroad, he noticed his Rolex had vanished despite no signs of forced entry to his home. Several weeks later, deputies informed the man that his watch had been pawned. Records showed Hudak had used his Florida ID to pawn it in exchange for $7,000, according to the re- port. The two men had been neighbors for roughly six months. The report states that Hudak confessed to the theft in a text message to a witness, writing, “It was a different version of me that took the watch and a different version of me that stole from [name redacted].” On August 28, Hudak turned himself in at MPD’s headquarters and was charged with fel- ony counts of grand theft and burglary of an un- occupied dwelling. As of Friday, August 29, he remained in cus- tody at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. WSVN told WPLG Local 10 News in a state- ment that Hudak “has been suspended without pay at this time.” Hudak appears to have been working at WSVN-ABC News since at least 2023. According to his bio on X (formerly Twitter), he previously worked as a television anchor and reporter for WCTV, CBS’s affiliate in Tallahassee, and at WINK News, another CBS affiliate, that covers south- west Florida. In 2022, he won an Emmy Award for his breaking news coverage of a powerful tornado that tore through Fort Myers in January of that year. In 2024, he took home an Edward R. Mur- row Award for WINK’s “Salvaging Salvaggio” se- ries, which followed a man whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Ian. “IT WAS A DIFFERENT VERSION OF ME THAT TOOK THE WATCH.” ▼ CORAL GABLES DON’T KICK THAT DUCK! UM STUDENTS OUTRAGED OVER VIDEO OF CAMPUS CRUELTY. BY ALEX DELUCA T he University of Miami (UM) is in- vestigating a video that appears to show someone kicking Ivan, a be- loved campus Muscovy duck. As first reported by the Miami Hurricane, the university’s student newspaper, the Uni- versity of Miami Police Department is inves- tigating footage of a person kicking the duck and a photo of another person grab- bing what appeared to be the same duck by the wings on the Coral Gables campus. Students quickly identified the bird in- volved in both incidents as Ivan, a celebrity duck on campus who is well-known for be- ing social, friendly, and “frequently waddling up to students in hopes of food or water.” “The University of Miami Police Depart- ment, the Department of Facilities and Op- erations and Human Resources are investigating the two incidents and taking appropriate action,” UM told the Hurricane. “Harming wildlife is a criminal offense and perpetrators will be prosecuted. The Uni- versity of Miami does not condone the mis- treatment of animals as viewed in these deplorable acts.” Students suspect that the individuals involved in the incidents may be university employees. The person shown in the video kicking the duck is wearing a dark green polo and some sort of lanyard. UM didn’t respond to New Times’ email questions about whether the individual is employed by the university. Muscovy ducks are an invasive species in Florida. While they’re protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a control order for the species. The university has previously removed the birds from campus grounds, including this past school year and in 2016, when they rounded up the birds and sent them to Baptist Hospital of Miami in Kendall due to “health and safety concerns.” But while some on campus might de- scribe the ducks as “dirty and aggressive,” students say Ivan is “harmless.” “He would go up to you to try to get your attention, but he would never hurt anyone,” Leo Fernandez, a member of UPurr, UM’s cat lovers club, told the Hurri- cane. (Fernandez is reportedly the person who named Ivan.) While students were worried about Ivan’s condition following the kicking inci- dent, on August 23, students with UPurr confirmed that he’s alive and well. Mem- bers of UPurr spotted him waddling around campus, where he was allegedly seen “going at [people’s] boots.” [email protected]
