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Feeding
pelicans (IBRRC photo) |
A
t International Bird Rescue Research
Center (IBRRC) in San Pedro, the
staff and volunteers are once again
overwhelmed with California
brown pelicans. Previous summers
have been spent treating this endangered
species for fishing line/hook injuries,
domoic acid poisoning, botulism
and young pelicans who haven’t been
able to find enough food to survive.
But this year, starving pelicans
are showing up by the hundreds.
Why the pelicans are starving remains
a mystery, however, researchers
are hard at work to explain the
latest peril to the pelicans. Although
some of the birds respond to supportive
care, many don’t and the death toll
is climbing.
IBRRC’s center,
located at Fort Mac Arthur in San
Pedro, is currently caring for 30
debilitated, dehydrated, and emaciated
pelicans, mostly young birds two
years old or less. “This is
the time of year that we typically
start getting in juvenile pelicans,
either because they can’t
find enough fish to eat, or their
fishing skills aren’t yet
perfected. When they’ve used
up their energy reserves they beach
themselves, exhausted,” said
Jay Holcomb, Director of IBRRC.
“Upon intake, we carefully
examine them, to make sure they
don’t have injuries from fishing
lines or hooks that would compromise
their ability to plunge dive. They
are weighed and blood samples are
taken. The blood work is showing
they are emaciated and anemic, signs
of a lack of adequate nutrition.
Their course of treatment is typically
two to three weeks of rest and fish.
The birds are not showing signs
of domoic acid poisoning, or abnormal
parasite loads.”
See: Pelican
project
Bodies of dead birds
are being sent to laboratories run
by the state and federal governments
and the UC Davis veterinary school.
Pathologists will determine whether
the birds were infected with avian
influenza, algal toxin or a viral
disease like west Nile virus. Botulism
is a significant cause of mortality
for brown pelicans at the nearby
Salton Sea, but it is typically
not a concern for the coastal population.
IBRRC is caring for
pelicans that have come from the
Newport Beach area to Santa Barbara.
In the past two weeks, hundreds
of brown pelicans have been rescued.
The majority were found
in the San Diego area and taken
to SeaWorld. 30 brown pelicans crash-landed
in Arizona, apparently mistaking
the heat-induced shimmer of paved
surfaces for water.
California brown pelicans
are a sub-species that nearly became
extinct in the late 1960s’
from DDT and DDE, which caused their
eggshells to thin. When they were
listed in 1970, only 200-300 breeding
pairs remained. Today, biologists
studying the bird’s breeding
colonies, the majority of which
are on West Anacapa Island and the
Channel Islands, estimate their
population to be approximately 6,000
breeding pairs.
IBRRC is a proud member
of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network
(OWCN) a legislatively mandated
program within The California Fish
and Game, Office of Spill Prevention
and Response (OSPR) which strives
to ensure that wildlife exposed
to petroleum products in the environment
receive the best achievable treatment
by providing access to permanent
wildlife rehabilitation facilities
and trained personnel for oil spill
response within California.
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press releases
Media contact:
Karen Benzel, International Bird Rescue Research
Center, karen@ibrrc.org
Office: (831) 622-7588
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