Hundreds Of Sick, Starving, And Injured Brown Pelicans Have Been Turning Up On California Shorelines, Prompting Wildlife Experts To Declare This Strange Situation A Crisis

GISTEL - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual pelican
GISTEL - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only, not the actual pelican

On beaches throughout California, hundreds of brown pelicans have been turning up in poor physical conditions over the past few weeks.

The birds are either sick, starving, injured, or all three at once. So far, wildlife experts have been unable to determine the cause of the phenomenon, but they have officially declared it a crisis.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other organizations not affiliated with the government have been conducting rescue efforts and working to restore the health of the birds.

Many of the pelicans are underweight, anemic, and dehydrated.

“When there’s not the fishing stock that they can find, they take chances around fishing piers and fishing boats and places where there are people with fishing tackle,” Russ Curtis, a spokesperson for the International Bird Rescue, said. He added that some pelicans have suffered injuries from fishing hooks and lines they come across by the shore.

More than 200 pelicans have been admitted into the care of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach and the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network.

The International Bird Rescue has taken in 260 pelicans at their two locations in California—Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The dead bodies of other pelicans have washed up on beaches. Necropsies revealed that starvation was the cause of their deaths, which has baffled scientists because there isn’t a lack of food resources on the Pacific coast.

“We also know that there’s supposedly plenty of anchovies and their food out in the ocean, so we don’t really know why they are not able to forage yet,” said Debbie McGuire, the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center executive director.

GISTEL – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual pelican

During the months when breeding season isn’t in session, brown pelicans tend to spend time along the entire coastline of California, so the sick birds have been found in several locations, such as Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Newport Beach—all traditional habitats.

However, they’ve also been discovered in strange spots like a lake at SoFi stadium and a fire station in Malibu.

Beachgoers in the state are being instructed to steer clear of the pelicans and to notify officials of any odd behaviors in the birds.

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Emily  Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a ... More about Emily Chan

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