PALM SHORES, Fla. – There has been an “abnormal” increase in injuries among pelicans along the Central Florida coast according to one nonprofit that is now working to find the cause of these injuries.
The Florida Wildlife Hospital posted to Facebook this week asking for the public to be on the lookout for any injured or deceased pelicans along Central Florida coastal counties.
“We’re going to do a head-to-toe examination,” said Dr. April Geer who is a veterinarian for the Florida Wildlife Hospital.
She showed News 6 multiple pelicans throughout their 5-acre complex. With a staff of about 20 members, Geer said the nonprofit has been working nonstop to find out the cause behind the recent pelican injuries.
“So the injuries that we’ve been seeing coming in have all been very bad fractured wings,” Geer said.
Geer said the hospital has seen about 3 birds so far, that had to be put humanely down due to their injuries
“In this particular case, this is what we call an open fracture — the broken ends on the bones were actually poking out of the skin,” Geer said.
The doctor said she has seen more than 20 cases in a week, which has sparked an investigation with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
“We’re concerned that there is some sort of human involvement and that may or may not be some kind of malicious intent,” Geer said.
The doctor said it could be several things causing the injuries from boats offshore to a car hitting these pelicans. News 6 was there as biologists and a pathologist were on site looking to get answers.
“So we’ve looked at a number of pelicans so far, I think today we looked at six or seven so far. There is a lot more to be looked at over the next couple of days,” Dr. Adam Stern who is a pathologist with the University of Florida in the College of Veterinarian Medicine said.
It’s too early to have any concrete findings, but Stern said he learned about the injured pelicans from the Blue World Research Institute.
He said while serving as the medical examiner of the birds, he hopes whatever he finds helps.
“Once we see patterns, in this case, we have a large number of animals so we’re potentially going to see a lot of patterns. We can then look to see what the causes of those patterns are,” Stern said.
Geer said there could be more affected pelicans saying they have reports of some washing up to shore, already dead.
While this incident is still under investigation, The Florida Wildlife Hospital is calling on the public to reach out if they see any more affected animals.
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