Wildlife Shelter and rescuing a Pelican

Hundreds of animals are injured every year most often due to human influence. Every year we usually see at least one Loon stranded on the beach with a boat propeller injury. We usually see a dolphin or two that have washed ashore dead. And occasionally we will see an injured or deceased sea turtle.

Though the injuries are caused by man, the animals are otherwise going to die with out man’s intervention.

This is where the Wildlife Shelter comes into play

The cost of operation is entirely covered by donations and the place is volunteer run.

We were out on a beach day in the truck when we spotted a pelican that was displaying some strange behaviors which lead me to believe it must be injured. Pelicans usually do not sit still on the beach. They will sit out in the water and float, or they will soar overhead looking for food. My favorite behavior that pelicans often do is when they surf the updraft on incoming waves and hover just inches above the water surface, perfectly balanced. Doing just what they were made to do. Well, this pelican was just sitting in the stand. Not moving. Standing upright.

When we got close enough to investigate we noticed that it’s foot was entangled in some fishing line. This would explain why he wasn’t flying because birds initially get their momentum for take off by running along the waters surface or taking a few steps on the land before taking to flight. With his foot entangled the bird, no doubt, was also incapable of swimming.

The trouble we had was in catching the bird. This individual was fiesty, biting at us with it’s beak. He was also pretty fast despite his disability from the line around his webbed feet. We recruited some bystanders from the beach and decided to use a towel to cover the birds head to keep him from injuring us. We surrounded the poor guy with our arms outstretched and corralled him into the towel. I then held the bird while michael cut him free from the fishing line.

Unfortunately, when we released the bird he was not flying away. We naturally assumed he must have suffered an injury and needed to be evaluated by a veterinary doctor.

The second time we had to catch the bird was 10 times more difficult but we managed to grab ahold of him with the same technique used previously. We brought him into the Wildlife shelter and they kept him overnight.

We were told he made a full recovery in 24 hours and was released back into the wild the next day. The volunteer staff informed us that he immediately took to flight when released from the crate.