YOWIE

I received a desperate call from residents, David and Tracey, of Yowie Bay, Sydney, about a pelican in all sorts of trouble.  It turned into a real ‘baptism of fire’ experience for new Team Member, Dallas.  Due to the late hour, plus 1 hour travelling time, I decided Dallas and I would head up early next day, rain and all.

The poor female pelican had line coming from her beak, around her head and chest and tight around her leg.  Being in such a bad way we couldn’t get her in the usual manner, so I asked David if we could get her in his boat.  Yeah… good idea, but being low tide he and Dallas had to drag it over the sand flat quite a distance with a big motor on the boat. 

So off we went and off she went flying with difficulty amongst the moored boats.  Finally she landed on a pole of a private jetty – I could see the 1.5 metre of the trailing line hanging down the pole so I jumped onto the bow of the board, wrapped the line around my hand and pulled.  She won!  She came down landing in the water… but the line cut my hand so I quickly got Dallas to get the net over her head and I hauled her in to the boat. 

Back on dry land, where we could look at her properly, the line was carefully removed from her leg and I managed to successfully remove the hook, which she had swallowed, with a not so delicate ‘hand down the throat’ approach.  Happily, we were able to release her and she went off fishing.

I called David and Tracey the next day to check on her progress and they reported that she was doing fine… a big thank you to them as she would have perished either from starvation or the line cutting through her leg.  Thanks also to Dallas – job well done!

Betty

Yowie the pelican

PEARL

PEARL - Pardon the ‘pun’ but this lucky girl is from Oyster Bay in Sydney.

Pearl - the pelican rescued from Oyster Bay in Sydney.

 

Thanks to Renee, a resident with a waterfront property who spotted ‘Pearl’ in trouble and made the phone call.  So Australian Seabird Rescue team member Leonie and I (Betty) headed up the mountain at 6:30pm. There she was in the mangroves making it very hard to get her without heading for deeper water which of course is what her instinct told her to do! It was now 7:30pm and luck was really on her side as there was a couple out fishing in their boat and we called them for help.

A great big thank you to ‘Gas’ and his friend from Como who helped us pick her up and didn’t complain about the mud in his boat! He did comment though that he was lucky he went out with one bird and ended up with three, ha ha!

I hope he caught his fish when we left! So in a couple of days she will be released and be able to wash the mud off herself. Thanks again Renee for ringing - ‘Gas’ for helping us and Leonie for missing her dinner!

Footnote: Great news! Word from Lindsay of S.O.S.S.A, the rare Westland Petrel that was picked up on Christmas Day and cared for my Lindsay then transported to Taronga Zoo Hospital by out Co-Ordinator Kirsten, is due to be released in the coming week - so just over three weeks in the expert care of the hospital she will be on her merry way.

The Hospital staff is of the opinion she is about 8yrs old and minor feather damage would be from going in and out of a burrow tending to her young. A great result from the effort of rescue teams working together.

Betty