Tuesday Textures: One Brown Pelican Knew Exactly Where to Knock
Tuesday Textures: A brown pelican showed up at NOAA Fisheries’ Panama City Laboratory looking like it had picked the right door for help.
Staff at the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center were in the middle of a normal workday when they heard tapping at the glass. Outside was the pelican, repeatedly knocking with its beak while tangled in heavy-duty fishing line.
The situation was worse than it first looked. A double-barbed treble hook was embedded in the bird’s right wing, several feet of monofilament line were wrapped around it, and cactus spines were stuck in the pelican’s left foot.
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The Pelican That Knocked on NOAA’s Door
A brown pelican arrived at NOAA Fisheries in Panama City tangled in fishing line, with a hook in its wing and cactus spines in its foot — and somehow landed at exactly the right place for help.
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The Right Knock at the Right Door
The fish and shark biologists inside may not run a bird clinic, but handling animals is very much part of the job. The team carefully restrained the pelican, snipped the hook’s barb, removed the hook and unwound the fishing line from its wing.
NOAA says the whole operation took about 10 minutes, and the pelican stayed remarkably calm while the team worked. Once the line, hook and cactus spines were gone, the bird was given a clean bill of health.
Hook Out, Line Gone — and Back Into the Sky
Then came the part everybody wanted: the pelican was released and took off under its own power, entirely free of the fishing gear that had wrapped around its wing.
NOAA used the odd little house call as a reminder that discarded monofilament can be deadly for coastal wildlife because it is hard to see, slow to break down and easily becomes wrapped around birds and marine animals.
Dig out thee astounding footage on KING 5 Seattle below.
Pelican Knocks on NOAA Fisheries Office Door for Help in Florida
KING 5 Seattle’s report shows the unusual Panama City rescue after the brown pelican arrived tangled in fishing line with a hook lodged in its wing.
Sources: NOAA Fisheries / KING 5 Seattle. Images: KING 5 Seattle.
