Emaciated, dying brown pelicans started showing up on beaches from Orange County to Malibu several weeks ago, according to reports.
After the emaciated, dying birds started showing up on beaches from Orange County to Malibu several weeks ago, there are now indications that their young are being affected, too.
Biologists who study pelican populations on Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands off the Ventura coast say her that pelican chicks are being found dead in their nests there, according to Debbie McGuire, executive director of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach. “Either something happened to the parents that couldn’t keep feeding them, or the parent just wasn’t able to forage and catch enough fish to keep themselves alive,” McGuire said.The National Park Service website says that “the only long-term breeding colonies of California brown pelicans in the United States” are on the islands.
The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, which has an on-site veterinarian, has seen a huge increase in pelicans being brought in for treatment, according to McGuire. At present, the center has treated 186 patients total, with only half of those surviving.Other marine wildlife care centers are reporting similar numbers with many birds suffering from"emaciation, dehydration, malnutrition, anemia," according to Elizabeth Wood, a veterinarian with the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center.
“The ones we’ve lost have been in that time period, when they’re basically too far gone and they don’t make it out of a hypothermic state.”
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