NEWPORT BEACH, California – Dozens of sick and hungry pelicans have been found in California coastal communities in recent weeks and many more have died.
Lifeguards spotted a group of two dozen sick pelicans earlier this week on a pier off the coast of Newport Beach and called wildlife experts to help.
Debbie McGuire, executive director of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, said the birds are the latest group they tried to save after capturing more than 100 other pelicans that were anemic, dehydrated and weighing only half what they do. he must.
“They are starving and if we don’t take care of them, they will die,” McGuire said. “It really is a crisis.”
It’s not immediately clear what is making the birds sick. Some wildlife experts have noted that pelicans are malnourished, even though marine life is abundant along the Pacific coast.
Bird Rescue, which runs two wildlife centers in Northern and Southern California, has reported 110 sick pelicans in the past three weeks, many of them entangled in fishing lines or hooks. A similar event occurred in 2022, the group said.
Wildlife organizations are focused on caring for the birds until they can be returned to the wild.
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