Quick Take
The number of sick and injured brown pelicans in Santa Cruz County has decreased quite a bit in recent weeks, but International Bird Rescue in Fairfield is still busy finishing rehabilitation for birds from all over the state, including locally. The organization, along with Native Animal Rescue of Santa Cruz County, is requesting additional funding from the county to help with costs associated with caring for the influx of ailing pelicans.
Local wildlife rescue organizations are seeing fewer sick and disoriented brown pelicans requiring care in Santa Cruz, but the issue has persisted around the state, prompting the organizations to request funding from the county for the cost of care.
Since early April, Native Animal Rescue (NAR) of Santa Cruz County in Live Oak has been constantly responding to calls about peculiar behavior in pelicans. Rescuers have found them starving, malnourished and disoriented. Between April 8 and May 6, NAR received 115 ailing pelicans.
Rescuers and experts have offered several theories as to what is causing the widespread ailments, ranging from a dearth of fish in the area to domoic acid poisoning from algae that accumulates in the bird’s food sources. More recently, some have speculated that weather patterns out at sea have made water visibility challenging for the birds, making it harder for them to see fish.
Luckily, the situation has improved dramatically in Santa Cruz, said NAR wildlife technician Amy Redfeather. She told Lookout on Tuesday that NAR currently has just three brown pelicans in its local facility, “and we’d been at zero for a couple of weeks before just the other day.”
Redfeather said that because of the birds’ fragile condition upon admission, NAR staff need to take multiple steps to get them on the path to rehabilitation.
“Because they’re so starved, they come in hypothermic. We have to warm them up, hydrate them until they can eat, and then feed them,” she said, adding that NAR sends the birds to the International Bird Rescue (IBR) office in Fairfield, east of Napa, to complete rehabilitation. Once there, birds typically will stay for another three to four weeks. If they are injured, they might stay at the facility for several months.
Communications Manager Russ Curtis said IBR’s facilities in both Fairfield and Los Angeles remain busy. As of Tuesday, there were 201 pelicans at the Fairfield facility and 117 at the Los Angeles facility, and that the birds were coming in from all over the coast.
“We’re still getting a lot of reports of these pelicans in the Alameda, Richmond and East Bay area,” he said. “It is abating a little bit, but we’re still concerned about whether there are enough fish out there for them, so we’ll keep fattening them up before sending them back out.”
Curtis said that some of the birds’ injuries are likely due to risky behavior in an attempt to find food, including eating things they shouldn’t or going to places where they might not be safe. He recalls when a pelican landed inside Oracle Park, the San Francisco Giants’ home stadium, during a game earlier this month. The bird soon became somewhat of a de facto mascot for the team, and was jokingly credited for helping the Giants win the game.
However, Curtis said experts knew the bird was exhibiting unusual behavior, and the pelican’s popularity among Giants fans raises concerns about a problem also seen during last summer’s Otter 841 frenzy — people looking for a photo-op with the pelicans. Appearances like the one at the Giants game could open the door for more people approaching sick or starving pelicans for fun.
“More human interaction is the last thing they need – they have to be nursed back to health in a proper setting,” he said. “When you have low blood sugar, you may not make the best choices, and that’s what happened here.”
Due to the amount of work NAR and IBR have taken on over the past two months, both organizations have asked Santa Cruz County for funds to help them recoup the money they have had to spend caring for the pelicans. IBR is asking for $6,350 and NAR is requesting $2,210. Curtis said the organization is spending tons of money on fish for the extremely hungry birds, which are quickly eating up to 500 pounds each day.
“Fish are expensive, and in a crisis, we go to commissions and ask for help because we are helping the wildlife living along those coasts,” said Curtis, adding that the additional funds would go toward food, medicine, clinic supplies and staff time. “The birds don’t come in with a medical or credit card, so we really rely on the jurisdictions and the public. Just last week we spent $20,000 getting fish through the door.”
The Santa Cruz County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Commission will consider the requests at a meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday. And while things are improving in Santa Cruz County, IBR is still keeping an eye on the region — and what might have caused the scourge.
“There’s still no conclusive proof as to what’s going on,” said Curtis, “but our focus is taking care of the birds and making sure they have enough to eat to survive.”
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