Alabama: Brown Pelican Tortured, Killed In Baldwin County

ALABAMA -- Pelicans are more common than boats on the bay around Pelican Point. The goofy looking bird is a favorite among many.

“They out here just trying to eat, just like we are trying to catch some fish to eat,” says angler Donald Burrell, Jr.

So, when a pelican was found dead in a place named after the bird, black electrical tape wrapped around its beak, more tape and rope wrapped around its feet and a wing, there was outrage and shock.

“Anybody that hurts old people, animals, children, wildlife, should be hung up by whatever,” says Kathleen Nazary visiting from Mississippi.

The death is being called torture by some. Fish and Wildlife agents are on the case looking for any information.

 

“Asking us have we seen anybody messing with the birds,” says Burrell who spoke to one of the officers.

“He reported that he found one with the beak and legs taped and a couple with broken wings and buckshot in a couple of 'em.”

Nature can be cruel often resulting in death. But this is different. There is nothing natural about this.

 

 

 

“I cannot imagine anybody’s mentality,” says Nazary. “They have to be sick.”

Alabama Fish and Wildlife agents are actively investigating this case. Anyone with any information is asked to call their local law enforcement agency or Fish and Game at 251-441-5787.

VIDEO NEWS CLIP:

(WKRG - Oct 19, 2017)

Florida: Deputies on patrol off the Florida Keys rescue sick pelican

FLORIDA -- MCSO - Florida Keys added 2 new photos to Facebook May 31, 2017 ·

Some days are better than others in law enforcement as in any other profession.

I'm thinking this was one of the better days for Deputy Wilfredo Guerra and Sgt. Nick Whiteman, who were on Wave Runner patrol offshore of Marathon Sunday.

While out on the water, watching for scofflaws, the two saved a pelican who, it turned out, was suffering from botulism.

They took it to the Wild Bird Center where the bird was expected to make a full recovery.

MORE PHOTOS ADDED - California: CHP officer rescues weary pelican wandering near freeway

CALIFORNIA -- A California Highway Patrol officer, a former falconer, captured a pelican wandering near westbound Interstate 80 in Truckee.

The CHP got a call about an injured bird on the highway. Officers arrived about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday to find the pelican on a hill beside the freeway.

California Highway Patrol Officer Troy Griesemer
holds a pelican he rescued Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2016,
near Interstate 80 in Truckee.
Photo: California Highway Patrol

When CHP Officer Troy Griesemer approached the bird, it flew off between the first and second lanes on the highway, dodging a car to get to the other side, he said. The bird was not injured but appeared tired, he said.

“He looked tired from flying, so I knew I could get a hold of him,” he said. “This isn’t the first bird I’ve caught. I knew what to look for, how he was going to react and how he would try to defend himself.”

 

Griesemer said he has caught a red-tailed hawk and eagles.

After Griesemer caught the pelican, it was placed in the back seat of the car and taken to the CHP office, where it sat for about an hour. The pelican was then taken to the Truckee Police Department animal shelter before being picked up by a wildlife rescue team.

Though it’s not common for CHP officers to have to catch wild animals, they have rescued a fawn, an eagle and others, officials said.

The pelican, which was not injured, was eventually
taken to the Truckee Police Department animal
shelter before being picked up by a wildlife
rescue team. Photo: California Highway Patrol

(newsobserver.com - Aug 4, 2016)

Florida: Monroe County Sheriff's Office needs help identifying person who slashed this pelican's face

FLORIDA -- MCSO - Florida Keys posted on Facebook on February 17, 2015 ·

Share this! Let's catch the criminals responsible!

It makes me sick to my stomach to share this photo with you all, but the more of us that are aware of this issue, the more hope there is we will find out who the sick person or people who are doing this.

This pelican walked up to Monroe County Public Works employee Jim Crane at about 1 p.m. on Crane Boulevard and would not leave his side. His pouch was slashed on both sides.

This is just the most recent in a string of such incidents in the Lower Keys.

That amazing woman - Maya Totman - with Wild Bird Rescue was called and responded to pick the bird up. I certainly hope he survives and can be healed.

In the meantime, if you know anything about who is doing this, please call us or call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission immediately!

There is a $5,000 reward offered for the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects in these crimes.

Florida: Sheriff's deputies borrow kayak to rescue injured pelican

FLORIDA -- MCSO - Florida Keys posted on Facebook on February 24, 2014 ·

Monroe County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Duncan and former Sheriff Rick Roth rescued this pelican at the 69 mile marker on Friday.

The bird had two broken wings and had crawled through the mangroves into a marshy area.

They borrowed a kayak in order to reach the bird and rescue it.

The bird was taken to the Wild Bird Center in Marathon for care.

Serial slasher blamed for gruesome pelican injuries that are being found in the Florida Keys with their throats slit

FLORIDA --  Charter boat captain Jim Sharpe was on his dock in Summerland Key, Florida. last Friday when he noticed a brown pelican with its throat slit, making it almost impossible for it to swallow fish.

Each time the pelican tried to swallow, the ballyhoo would fall out of its large pouch and onto the ground.

Veterinarian Don Harris, head of the Avian and Exotic Animal
Medical Center in Miami, performs surgery to repair a brown
pelican's pouch that appears to have a chunk of it intentionally cut out

'It looked like the pelican’s throat had been cut with a knife,' he told the Miami Herald.

A 10-inch clean slit reached from the point of the bird’s beak, all the way back to the glottis.

'The windpipe was dangling from the bird’s neck, almost like it was breathing out of a snorkel,' Veterinarian Don Harris, director of the Avian & Exotic Animal Medical Center in Miami, told the Herald.

Several more brown pelicans have been turning up in the area with the same injury, and Maya Totman, director of the Florida Keys Wildlife Rescue, said she fears there’s a person or group of people out there doing this to innocent animals.

'We’ve seen a lot of ripped pouches, but never anything like this,' she said.


It's not clear how the bird was maimed but it is possible that the bird was slashed from the inside.

Harris agreed that the cuts on the pelican brought in by Sharpe appeared to be intentional.

'I firmly believe it to be malicious,” he told the paper, even likening the lacerations to 'a Colombian necktie' — in reference to a method of murder that began during the Colombian civil war.

Totman said she found one dead pelican and four others with their throats slit on Cudjoe Key on Sunday.

'If we don’t catch them soon they are going to die from starvation a terrible death,' she said. 'This is so sad. So sad.'

Brown pelicans are a fixture at Florida marinas and other coastal areas. While they are delightful to many, Sharpe says they are not beloved by all fishermen.




'They can be aggravating and try to grab your fish if you are fishing out of a boat,' he said. 'But I can’t imagine anybody deliberately maiming them, even though they can be a nuisance.'

On Sunday, a fisherman reported seeing several live brown pelicans with their pouches cut near Venture Out resort on Cudjoe Key. It’s separated from Summerland Key by a bridge.


 

This is how the Brown Pelican should appear in breeding
colors with it's translucent pouch extended

The brown pelican is federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. It’s also on Florida’s protected list as a species of special concern, the Herald reported.

'They can be aggravating and try to grab your fish if you are fishing out of a boat,' Harris said. 'But I can’t imagine anybody deliberately maiming them, even though they can be a nuisance.'

(Daily Mail - Dec 13, 2013)