- Crowds of sick and hungry pelicans have arrived at a California wildlife center
- Reason for mass stranding unclear, but supplies are dwindling
Crowds of sick and hungry pelicans have been arriving at a local wildlife center in Huntington Beach, California, as a result of a “mass stranding.”
In the last month alone, more than 80 brown pelicans were brought to the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, and only 31 survived.
Debbie McGuire, executive director of the center, said the number of sick birds that have been brought in worries rescue teams.
The center is also starting to run out of supplies as people from the region bring in more birds and ran out of 500 pounds of fish last week alone, he said.
Although McGuire said he couldn’t identify a reason behind the sudden influx of hungry birds, he said he believes it has something to do with their food.
Pictured: Lindsey Campbell, left, senior wildlife technician at Wildlife Care Center, uses a large feeding syringe to feed a brown pelican that was hungry and severely dehydrated.
Pictured: Starving brown pelicans recover at the Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach.
Only a handful of pelicans are expected to receive treatment at the center in late spring, but this year is an anomaly.
The last time a pelican stranding occurred was in 2022, when hundreds of pelicans were brought to the center for treatment, and the epidemic spread along the state’s coast.
Pelicans can dive up to six feet deep to fish.
“What we know for sure is that once we start feeding them, they tend to respond: vitamins, food, fluids,” McGuire told the Los Angeles Daily News. “The most important thing we need is money to buy fish.”
Pelicans range in age from young to adult. McGuire said some of them had to be euthanized because they arrived with broken wings, an irreversible injury for a pelican depending on the type of break.
Although it is unknown if the reason is the same as that affecting pelicans, McGuire added that more western gulls and baby sea lions have been treated for similar ailments.
Last week, McGuire said he fears that, like the 2022 mass stranding, the entire California coast could be suffering from this problem. Last week, he said, sick pelicans arrived from San Clemente to Seal Beach and the coasts of Los Angeles and Ventura.
Others have come from Corona Del Mar, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach.
McGuire said teams of biologists will perform necropsies on the deceased pelicans to try to reconstruct the cause of the problem.
Pictured: Lindsey Campbell, left, senior wildlife technician, receives help from volunteer Lan Wiborg to feed a malnourished brown pelican at the Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach.
Pictured: Lindsey Campbell, senior wildlife technician at Wildlife Care Center, takes a blood sample from a brown pelican.
Featured: Starving brown pelicans recover at Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach
Early blood tests on the birds concluded they were emaciated and anemic, while others were trapped in fishing nets.
‘Scientists really need to look deeper into the causes of this. It could be that there is nothing we can do. “It could be exactly what’s going on,” McGuire said.
The center encourages those who spot a sick animal to contact animal control or first responders; They will transport you to a healthcare center
A sick bird may require medical attention if it does not attempt to fly upon approach.
For more information on how you could help, visit wwccoc.org.
