INEXORABLE: SHOT!

AUSTRALIAN SEABIRD RESCUE South Coast team member, Lisa, was asked to look out for a pelican (about an hour south of Wollongong) which had a lot of fishing line around his legs and was having trouble walking.

Whilst looking for this bird she spotted a female pelican with holes on both sides of her pouch and a nasty wound to her head.

Having already met Lisa half way to collect a big male with a swollen leg that she and ASR Clare had caught and were bringing back to Wollongong, we decided if she caught the female with the holes we would ask our good mate Judy at Pyree who is with Wildlife Rescue South Coast to babysit her overnight.

Well, Lisa, caught the bird and Judy ‘baby sat’ her and kindly transported her half way to Wollongong for team member, Julie, to go down and collect her next morning.

Great team work all round and thank you everyone.

The bird has now had an operation to repair the damage, but, WHY!   The injuries were confirmed by the vet to be a BULLET!  What sort of satisfaction could this lowest form of humanity get out of shooting a harmless, defenceless creature.  She will recover but it should never have happened and one shudders at the cruelty of this warped mind for cheap thrills.

Pelican with bullet holes in pouch

By the way, Lisa, went back and caught the original bird – fixed him up and released him.  Well done, Lisa, three birds in one morning.

Thank you again, Judy (Wildlife Rescue) for housing the bird overnight and to Julie (ASR and Wildlife Rescue) for collecting her.  She is now in care for 10 days with stitches that need to heal.

Once again, if anyone sees or hears of cruelty against our wildlife both aquatic and terrestrial, please contact the Police and Australian Seabird Rescue or Wildlife Rescue who will rescue the animal – even if you think it is a false alarm.

We would rather go to ten false alarms than one dead creature.

Betty

Are you kidding?

A distressed call came in from a member of the public about a baby goat on a local break wall and he was crying. She had rung the RSPCA and was told to ring Australian Seabird Rescue as the RSPCA does not have a boat.

This was approx 11am and being an area I patrol every morning this poor little kid was not there at 6am and can be confirmed by the local pro fisherman.

Some monster has dumped this poor little creature on the break wall with no food or means of escape surrounded by water.

A quick phone call to ASR team member Julie and my good friend local vet Joanne from Kembla Grange Vet Clinic we were all there within 15 mins.

RSPCA decided to attend and I assume contacted the fire brigade and police for help. This was quickly turning into a “circus” but ASR Julie and vet Joanne took control of the situation simply paddling the ASR kayak over and rescued the kid.

Returning to shore vet Jo checked him thoroughly before handing him over to RSPCA, who had no idea on how to capture him. But to know there are people out there capable of this type of cruelty is very distressing! Sadly this is not the first time animals have been dumped on this same break wall. Over the years we have had 2 sets of domestic ducks and 2 dogs all on different occasions and now this!

Baby goat safely back on dry land having been rescued from stranding on the breakwater.

Baby goat goes for a ride in the ASR kayak!

We have to stop people buying “that cute little thing” and then tiring of them. But why condemn them to terror and uncertainty when they can take them to the local pound and surrender them.

Have we really become such uncaring monsters?

Thank you again Julie and Joanne this little cutie now has a chance at a happy life.

Betty

How did this happen?

A late call came in about a pelican in trouble. I jumped on the phone to new Australian Seabird Rescue team member Hanna (being the closest) who didn’t hesitate to come and help.

A very big very handsome pelican somehow found this 7cm shark hook with a 28cm skin of a fish attached embedded in his side.

Mysteriously no line attached to the hook!

Large hook with skin attached embedded in the side of a pelican.

Has some fisherman been cleaning fish and thrown this hook with no care or more likely Mr Pelican has taken someone’s fish out of the sea and they have cut the line?

Either way – why!

The weight and size of the hook had torn the birds side as well as the length of the fish skin causing him to tread on it aggravating the situation.

Unfortunately they had been fed and weren’t interested in what we had to offer. So next morning team member Julie and I returned and caught him quickly.

This injury could have been so easily avoided. Please enjoy your fishing but be careful and do not feed the birds. Let them go back to the wild and hopefully stay out of trouble.

Thanks again to Julie and Hanna.

Betty

Welcome Jules

A desperate call came in to Australian Seabird Rescue about a pelican unable to move very much and blood on its wing, located on an island in Lake Illawarra. It was freezing cold and gale force winds but the bird had to be rescued. With only 2 experienced kayakers (one at work and the other hesitant) and me not well enough to even attempt it – a dilemma!

I remembered that new team member Julie mentioned she had a kayak. I rang to see if she could help. Without hesitation she said yes even after I said she was going to get cold and wet. So off we went, 2 on the kayak to the island. This poor female had her right wing smashed and almost severed. Without any trouble we picked her up and Julie paddled us back to land then off to the vet to be sadly euthanized.  Presumably she had been blown in to the bridge or an overhead cable that straddles the lake. But without Julies help she would have died a slow horrible death as the ravens would have found her. So a big thank you to Julie and welcome aboard.

Betty

Kerguelen Petrel

This very rare pelagic bird breeds in the Southern Atlantic and Southern Indian Oceans. It was unknown in the Australian region until a specimen was found in 1926. It is often seen among the pack ice but seldom seen in Australian seas. However – this poor bird was caught up in the “perfect storm” being blown across from the big system in West Australia then caught up in the East Coast low that caused havoc over the weekend of the 5^th and 6^th June. It must have been like being in a big washing machine – scary for a 36cm bird with a wingspan of 81cm.

The rare Kerguelen Petrel blown into NSW South Coast shores during a storm.

He was found in a backyard at Callala Bay approx 1 1/2 hours south of Wollongong.

Not being able to identify him from the photos I asked Australian Seabird Rescue team member Lisa to send photos directly to Lindsay of Southern Ocean Seabird Study Association (SOSSA) who is an absolute expert on seabirds. Lindsay wanted to measure the birds feathers etc for absolute identification. So he drove an hour south (for which I am very grateful) and Lisa drove 45 mins north to meet and for him to bring the bird back. He of course was correct in his identification from the photos but found the bird to be only half the weight he should be. Due to the rarity of the bird Lindsay looked after him through the night but he just didn’t have any fight left in him and very sadly died quietly. He is now off to the Australian Museum in Sydney for display.

A great big thank you to Lisa for collecting and transporting him and Lindsay of SOSSA for driving south to bring him back and care for him.

It has to be stressed again the importance of getting these seabirds to specialist care and identification. Dead birds are invaluable also for research.

Betty.

Cute Cygnet

A call came in to Australian Seabird Rescue at 16.30 from a member of the public who had also rung WIRES regarding 2 cygnets separated from the parents. Apparently the parents had removed 2 babies and would have come back for the others if this woman had not interfered. Unfortunately she lives near this waterway and has a reputation for interference and not understanding wildlife. In fact National Parks and the police were called last year for the same thing. What she is doing is quite illegal and feeding the birds is also illegal particularly feeding them white sliced bread definitely not good for them. The result of this inference was that a member from WIRES sat cold and freezing until 18.30 hrs to watch over them. Unable to help as it was also pitch black I told her I would go at daybreak next day.

On arrival mum and dad with 2 babies were in an adjacent pond and 1 cygnet alone and frightened apparently the other must have been taken by a fox. With steep slippery sides at the site I rang our co-ordinator Kirsten to come put the kayak in.

It was all over in 10 minutes and baby happily reunited with parents and siblings. At 4 days old this would have been a terrifying experience for this little one. So please people – nature really does know best so unless there is apparent danger interference often causes more stress.

Thank you to Kirsten ASR and Kristy WIRES for helping.

Betty.

Family happily reunited.

Bib and Bub

Look what the wind blew in! Too cute for their own good.

Bib and Bub baby cormorants, weighed only 260 and 350gms when first arrived at ASR.

Actually these baby cormorants have had a rough start in life. Their nest with them in it was blown out of a tree at the Sydney Olympic Park during gale force winds. Unable to return the nest up the tree, ground keepers took the babies to the Homebush Exotic Animal Hospital who in turn transported them to Australian Seabird Rescue in Wollongong.

Weighing a tiny 260 and 350gms they are now being spoilt and have doubled in size and weight. Luckily they avoided injury in the fall other than a scratch on the head of Bub. On maturity they have the most beautiful green eyes. Although mainly a fresh water bird they are also found in Indonesia and New Zealand.

Bib and Bub the baby cormorants are gaining weight quickly.

Our co-ordinator Kirsten what to be present when this 69 year old wrinkled body gets in the water to teach them to fish. Guess what! I love them but that isn’t going to happen.

Betty.

Heinous Act

Well I feel this picture should be seen and maybe just maybe this sort of thing will be reported if witnessed or by someone with a knowledge of the act and the monster taken to court. All birds are protected under the wildlife act.

Pelican with horrific injuries after being run over by a boat.

A call came in to Australian Seabird Rescue at 8am reporting a pelican in the water covered in blood. Unsure how far from shore I asked our co-ordinator Kirsten to meet in case we needed the kayak to reach the bird. On arrival I could see how bad she was so just waded in and carried her to shore to wait for Kirsten.

This poor little female has been deliberately run over by a boat and left floating bleeding and still alive. It had to be deliberate as in broad daylight it’s impossible to say you didn’t see the bird. The way she was torn to pieces by the propeller would have been very noisy also and to just continue and leave this poor bird in horrific pain is totally unforgivable. In my 10 ½ years with ASR I’ve seen some terrible injuries but this will remain with me forever that someone could do this. Kirsten was affected in the same way.

Please if you see or hear of any sort of cruelty or mistreatment report it immediately even if you think it may be a false alarm.

Betty.

Sydney Fish Markets

A call from Australian Seabird Rescue team member Silke, North Sydney came to me regarding a pelican at the Sydney Fish Markets with about 8cm of his top beak missing. On seeing the photo sent to me it was obvious this bird was going to be in a lot of trouble in a short space of time.  Being an hour and a half from

Wollongong it was difficult to co-ordinate.

Co ordinator Kirsten and team member Nikki attended on the Monday but were unsuccessful with the bird not wanting to leave the safety of the harbour.

So Kirsten and I went up on the following Thursday and it broke my heart to see this poor bird about 8 months old trying to retrieve scraps thrown to him from the café public having to put his head on the side under the water to scoop up the scraps. There was no way I was going home without him.

So off we went down on the oyster laden rocks to entice him with our yummy flathead. He was hungry poor thing so he was in my arms within 5 minutes.

Unfortunately with nothing that could be done for him he was taken to the vets and euthanized.

He was in a poor condition being unable to preen, no feathers under his wing making him not waterproof. He would have died a slow horrible death from hypothermia and possible starvation from incorrect diet.

Easily avoided of course if people would only stop feeding these birds and making them people friendly perhaps they may return to the wild and this sort of cruel injury would not occur. It was confirmed by the veterinarian that the injury was caused by a KNIFE.

A very sad outcome for this very handsome very young bird

Betty

Unbelievable!

Merimbula – A very pretty spot on the far south coast of NSW – but there is a monster in residence!

This monster was seen tossing juvenile silver gulls out of his boat in front of shocked children.

Two men and a young boy tossed the baby birds, their nests and some eggs into the lake. Some local kids and adults jumped in to save as many as they could – 14 birds were taken into care.

National Parks and the RSPCA were notified and now have the monsters details. One truly hopes he is taken to court and charged under the Government Wildlife Act.

Many thanks to Kristine of Wildlife Rescue and the Local WIRES volunteer for raising these birds and Australian Seabird Rescue team member Penny for telephone support. All birds have now been released – thank you to all involved.

A simple phone call would have solved this problem in an hour instead of 2 months care and expense. One wonders about the future of the boy involved in this act of cruelty.

Betty

PETITE PETREL

Petite petrel found on the NSW South Coast

This fledgling white face storm petrel is the only storm petrel with a white forehead, face and under parts. At only 15cm in length and weighing 40gm this little bird was amazing. They are mostly pelagic.

He was found on a south coast beach two and a half hours south of Wollongong and thanks to the rescuers and Australian Seabird Rescue team member Lisa I only had to travel one hour south to collect him.

They breed also on Kermadec, New Zealand and New Zealand sub Antarctic islands. North and south Atlantic also. Part of the Australian population winters in the north Indian Ocean and Arabian seas.

With a tiny 38cm wing span one wonders how they survive out there over that vast ocean.

A day and a half rest and “unusual” diet (they feed on krill) with advice from Lindsay at Southern Ocean Seabird Study Ass. We took him to Port Kembla at 8 p.m. to see if he was strong enough to continue his journey.

Without too much hesitation he was off and half hour observation he was last sighted heading in the right direction to the north.

Another good result!

Thank you Lindsay (SOSSA), Lisa (ASR) and Wildlife Rescue.

Betty

ENDANGERED

This very handsome young Westland Petrel was found lying on the sand of a Wollongong Beach by a passer-by who fortunately rang Seabird Rescue.  These birds only breed in the Paparoa Ranges on the top of bluffs which are densely forested on the South Island of New Zealand mostly migrate to Chile before returning.

Western Petrel found on Wollongong Beach

So immediately off to our friends Janice & Lindsay of SOSSA (Southern Oceans Seabird Study Assoc.) to be assessed at just over half her weight should be she was hydrated with critical care fluid straight away and due to the late hour, Lindsay kept her to be fed during the night (Thank you Lindsay)

Into rehab the next day she appeared to be doing okay, but on day 5 despite gaining weight she started to look not so happy.

Lindsay consulted with Taronga Zoo Hospital and it was decided she would fair better up there with best facilities where she could swim etc.

Not being able to get a Seabird Rescue volunteer to take her to Sydney / Mosman, (almost two hours away) it fell back on Janice & Lindsay to transport her to the Zoo, for which a great big thank you goes to them as I couldn’t go with other birds in care needing 3 hourly attention.

But the lesson here is the IMPORTANCE of notifying someone of any seabirds found dead or alive.  It really is imperative to identify them and if alive to go to the best possible care.

Thank you again, Janice & Lindsay of SOSSA and Taronga Zoo Hospital for taking over her care and hopefully release in a couple of weeks.

Betty 

KIWI SURPRISE

A call came in to Australian Seabird Rescue from a Sussex Inlet resident advising of a pelican with line around its leg. Sussex Inlet is approximately 2 hours south of Wollongong and 1 hour south of Nowra. 

So onto the phone to team member Lisa who lives on the coast near Nowra. She was on holiday in Queensland waiting for a flight home as the state was experiencing flash flooding but said she’d go as soon as she got home.  A big thank you Lisa as no one else was available.

So with her visiting friend from New Zealand off they went but couldn’t find the bird in the massive waterways of the inlet so headed home. But just as she turned on the main highway the fellow rang and said the bird had showed up-so a quick u turn back they went and there he was waiting for them.

The Kiwi caught the bird!!!!!!

After removing the line and checking the bird over and I’m sure some photos to take home he was happily released.

I told her if ever she moved “across the ditch” we would love to have her join us!

Thank you girls well done

Betty

SPARKIE

An early morning call to Australian Seabird Rescue from a fisherman, Gordon came in about a pelican trapped for a couple of days in the cold water channel at the district power station.

My rescue buddy Oliver was unavailable so I asked if Gordon call help me and off I went with ropes and anything else I could think of. Of course the power station is under heavy security with locked gates everywhere so with a band of workers headed by foreman Warren we followed her down. This channel is quite long very deep and about a 4ft drop down straight sides to the water with a grate at the inlet end and a filter at the other end. The poor thing was snookered- we tried everything.

Warren was going to cut a hole in the security fence but I called the Fire Brigade to see if they could help and with a great big thank you to the men we all put our heads together to work out the best plan of action.

She’d turned and swam back to the inlet-now being totally exhausted she could hardly hold her head up.  It was commented there were big fish in there but generally people don’t understand pelicans can’t dive deeper than the length of their neck so she was also starving.

With all the attention she became spooked and squeezed herself through the grate and into the open lake but so unwell she just started drifting. Onto the phone to team member John to bring his hovercraft over she is now safely in care.

This poor bird would have been lucky to weigh 2kilo - she’d been in there a lot longer than 2 days, but a couple more days in care and big feeds of fish she will be back out in the wild.

A big thank you to fisho Gordon, power station, Warren the fire station officer Rod and hovercraft John for their invaluable help.

She is one very lucky bird that so many people cared.

Betty

Sparkie the Pelican

All Creatures Great and Small

Australian Seabird Rescue team member Gillian and great friend of ASR Peter, recently attended a family orientated day in Moruya on the NSW South Coast.

This annual event the "Feast of St Francis" or endearingly known as the "Blessing of the pets" is held by St John's Anglican Church.

A lovely sunny day - this community event saw lots of people bring their pets to the church grounds to be blessed at the altar and font by Rev. Linda Chapman. After a lovely morning tea Rev Chapman asked Peter to give a talk.

It was a great opportunity to spread the word about ASR. Peter, an ex member, is very well versed on birds and the problems they encounter and is still very active on the South Coast; never hesitating to assist birds in trouble. Highlights of his very informative talk were how locals could help by being the "eyes" for ASR and reporting any problems whatsoever to the ASR hotline as we can't be everywhere and do rely on this help from the general public. The never ending problem of plastic in the ocean was also discussed. In particular balloons which are mistaken for food by most sea creatures and birds, a devastating impact is occurring with all washed up birds having plastic in their gut.

As rescue coordinator I always tell people we would rather attend 10 false alarms than one tragedy so never hesitate to ring.

A big thank you to Gillian and Peter for attending this event and handing out lots of brochures and cards.

Footnote: Next time you are planning a party of promotional event please consider paper streamers instead of balloons. They really are just as effective and less destructive.

Betty

Labour Day Long Weekend

Well - that was a weekend that was  - apart from out of season scorching heat - we had 3 interesting rescues.

It all started at 5pm on Friday with a call from new team members Narelle and her daughter who had decided to go on a patrol and spotted a little female pelican with a large lump on her neck. They contacted me (Betty) immediately and I went straight over. On catching her it appeared to be an abscess or a tumour so off to the vet. Many thanks here to Deiderik of Kembla Grange Veterinary practice who saw us straight away despite clients waiting. He couldn't syringe it as it was too solid so next morning back we went before the surgery opened and he cut it out.

She is now in care for 10 days so next time someone says "oh don't worry the hook will rust" here's proof that they don't and do work their way into the body. Untreated she would've died from infection or starvation so well done girls you saved her life as did the vet.

Saturday a pelican was reported with a broken wing but despite Narelle and I searching for over an hour we could not find it. The area is a large inlet fed by the sea that tapers into a mostly inaccessible creek. It was thought she must've drifted out to sea or gone right up then creek to hide as there were lots of people splashing around. Unfortunately it was a delayed call from another rescue group making it even harder to locate the bird.

Sunday morning a call came in about a swan not wanting to move. On picking her up I noticed blood in her mouth. The fellow said he heard a bang on the roof Saturday night but didn't think much of it then found her on Sunday morning. So back home, rehydrated and mouth washed she settled down. Worried about concussion or internals I kept her overnight for observation and happily released her Monday morning clear of injuries.

Sunday 8pm a fellow spotted a pelican in a drain with a broken wing. So that's where she went!! A long way from where she was reported on Saturday. So on the phone to co-ordinator Kirsten off we went with torches, rope, fish and fingers crossed. There she was 6 ft down in the drain so over the fence and down we went after letting the police know what we were doing. 9pm now and she panicked seeing these 2 mad women coming over the fence with torches. We were unable to catch her as it was very slippery. She then ran under a bridge. So back over the fence and across the road. We found her in a totally inaccessible place surrounded by reeds and who knows what else was down that steep bank. Unable to scare her back under the bridge we had to admit defeat and headed home at 10pm to return next morning and hopefully find her again.

Monday 7am Team member Oliver and I headed back to find her with Kirsten on standby. She was in the same spot so with Oliver hiding under the bridge I tried to scare her to go to him. She refused to budge and while we were figuring out how to get her she got sick of us looking at her and went under the bridge on her own. After a mighty effort from Oliver scaling the fence for the fourth time, and a chase, she was in his arms. Sadly though to be taken to the vet. But she would've died a horrible death in that drain - she was already under weight and had lice on her.

With 2 out of 3 success stories - it sure was a weekend that was.

Thank you Kirsten, Oliver and Narelle. Also vet Deiderik for fixing up the little girl I still have in care and Greencross Vets for being open on a public holiday.

Betty

Wake Up Call

Landcare Illawarra hosted an event on 16 September 2015 as a call to action and to inform people of the devastating impact rubbish and marine debris has on wildlife. Environmentalist Tim Silverwood spoke for an hour about the downfall of our environment since the "easy lifestyle" began in 1955. Tim is founder of "Take 3" whose initiative it is to take 3 pieces of rubbish when you leave our beaches, waterways or parklands. They are sponsored by Taronga Zoo and are partners with Tangaroa Blue, Plastic Free July and Surfriders. He spoke of things such as tiny plastic beads in hand creams and body cleansing lotions, chemicals in Bakelite products, thin plastic film in some tea bags which break down in hot water - yep and then you drink it!

Research has shown that 8 million tonnes of plastic per annum goes into the ocean. He showed slides of debris in the Philippines, USA, Bali and a devastating major spill of plastic beads in Hong Kong - ever seen a beach with plastic sand? A very sad picture taken by a diver off Bali in December 2014 of a Manta ray surrounded by floating plastics was also shown.

Research from the CSIRO indicates that in the near future every seabird will have plastic in it - its already over 30%. They are the ones that are not killed outright as their bodies are blocked. 100% of shearwaters washed up on Lord Howe Island had plastic in them.

Another interesting talk by Lachlan Fetterplace and Matt Rees of Fishthinkers followed. Both marine scientists, they showed a video of a lab study to see if plankton would eat plastic beads - and in doing so would be shooting this up the food chain to humans which is already impacting Inuit people. Slides also of a beached turtle and dolphin with plastic in the gut. Ten people from Australia and New Zealand recently went to Cape York and in a five day 6.5km beach walk picked up and catalogued 451m of fishing line, 310 commercial remnants, 151 ghost nets and 650 toothbrushes! They also filled 14 bags with what should have been recycled.

Australian Seabird Rescue South Coast Branch co-ordinator Kirsten Hort was also a guest speaker and spoke of our never-ending problems with sea and shore birds affected by human rubbish.

Another speaker from Surfriders showed shopping bags they made from recycled materials.

The evening was certainly a "wake up". What monsters we have become through the years? Why are we letting this happen to us? Its ruining our lives and nature’s creations round us.

I'm not giving up - are you?

Please take the time to look at these websites and have a rethink of what's around your home and talk to everyone you meet about this problem.

Betty

www.take3.org.au

www.rechusable.com

www.surfriders.org.au

fishthinkers.wordpress.com

‘HOOKED!’

Easter Sunday morning, sunshine was interrupted by a call to Australian Seabird Rescue from a resident, Dave, at the local mobile home village, reporting a pelican on the island with its wing down and unable to fly.

Onto the phone to Sam, one of our invaluable hovercraft owners, I asked if he could pick me up and take me to the bird.  Sam had a mate, Bruce, visiting from America, who came across and waited on the shore while Sam and I went to collect the poor thing.  The picture is compliments of Bruce.

Betty & Sam rescuing a pelican with a broken wing.

On inspection, the poor bird not only had a break, but a nasty wound at the site.  There is no doubt it was a serious hook injury (I have seen many, sadly).  Somebody has hooked the bird and just yanked so hard to get their 20c hook back, they have snapped her wing.  So, straight to the Greencross Vets, thankfully they are opened on Sunday, to be euthanized.

Thank you Sam for helping me save her from a horrible slow death.

If only…. you know, everyone – it really is so easy to stop, think and assess the situation before causing this sort of damage with a tragic ending.

Betty

UNLUCKY

Egret found with broken wing.

This dainty little bird, an Egret, somehow got herself in trouble.  On a calm Saturday night a call came in to Australian Seabird Rescue, from the Port Kembla Rail.  A worker had found her hiding in the bushes.  Not a mark on her and absolutely snow white, unfortunately her left wing was broken.  So strapped up warm and safe for the night the outcome was never going to be good.  One wonders how she managed to hurt herself - although this type of bird is quite common, they all have a place in the ecosystem and we should be ensuring all species a future.

Betty

FRIDAY 13th

Who said Friday the 13^th was unlucky?   This female pelican pictured with team member Leonie certainly had luck on her side.

ASR team member Leonie with the Lucky Pelican

I was checking to see if a juvenile pelican that had hit power lines the previous afternoon (where he had landed on his back) was OK – he was – despite looking as though he had really hurt his leg – it must have just been jarred so he got off with a few broken tail feathers.  Australian Seabird Rescue co-ordinator, Kirsten and I monitored him for over an hour the night of his accident.

Anyway, while watching him the next morning, I spotted this female pelican looking very sorry for herself and unable to raise any of our members at that time, I asked a fellow launching his boat if he could help – unfortunately that frightened her and on an adrenalin rush she managed a short flight into the adjacent wetland which is inaccessible by boat.

Now desperate, I rang team member, Leonie, who had retired from major rescues after injuring her leg.  A great big thank you to Leonie for responding and with her past experience and after a short ‘chase’ was able to get the pelican on the kayak and safely bring her to shore – a big paddle in the wind.  She would have perished overnight with a cold snap in the weather being unable to retain her body heat.  LUCKY 13!  This particular wetland is quite shallow with smelly black mud so Leonie had to then get home and ‘scrubbed up’ to go to work.

Thanks, again, mate – the bird is now settled in care and with treatment will be back out there in about a week.

Betty