Starving brown pelicans overwhelm bird rescue facility in Fairfield
FAIRFIELD -- A wildlife crisis is playing out in the Bay Area and along the California coast. Thousands of brown pelicans are starving to death and scientists don't seem to know why. Now, one local rescue center is desperately appealing to the public for help.
On Saturday, a public open house at the International Bird Rescue Center in Fairfield almost didn't happen but they decided to go through with it anyway because they thought it was important for the public to understand the crisis they're dealing with. The rescue center is accustomed to dealing with injured or sick birds but what began slowly in April has suddenly become overwhelming.
"We were all going back and forth, like, 'Is this a thing, is this not a thing?' And then, in the last four or five days, things have just cratered," said the center's fevelopment director, Alex Domeyko. "The number of pelicans we've taken in in the last week or so has doubled."
"For the first time in ten years this is the most pelicans I've ever seen here so, it's quite unusual," said wildlife center manager Kelly Beffa.
Brown pelicans are the birds you see at the beach, skimming over the water in formation, like a squadron of fighter planes. Lately they've been found wandering in unusual places, unable to fly away from people.
"One bird that we actually have in care right now came in from Santa Cruz and it tried to walk into a bar right near the boardwalk. So, these birds are disoriented," said spokesperson Russ Curtis.
They're not sick, they're starving. For some reason that remains a mystery the birds cannot find the fish they need to survive. They eat the same diet as other birds but it is only the pelicans that are being brought in by the dozens.
"One of the things that we'll be relying on is ocean scientists and avian folks to figure out why this fishing stock is eluding them," Curtis said.
"Some of them are coming in less than half of the body weight that they're supposed to be," said Beffa, as she examined a new arrival. "So, imagine a human going through that. You're supposed to weigh 150 pounds, you're coming in at 75 pounds. You're going to be having some severe problems."
The rescue center currently has 120 pelicans and is expecting another 30 to 40 in a few days. As a result, the operation is facing a crisis of its own.
"Right now, we're going through 500 pounds of fish a day," said Curtis. "That's about $1,000 a day, so you can start to multiply that out."
The birds respond well to the food and vitamins they're getting but they can't be released into the wild until there is a food supply for them. It's putting a major drain on the center's finances so, they're asking for help -- donations to help pay for food and volunteers to help care for so many patients.
"I mean, especially for crises like this, where we take in this many birds, we need as many hands on deck as we can get," Domeyko said. "And volunteers are the backbone of this organization."
No one knows for sure why this is happening or when it might end. Pelicans burn a lot of calories and can die within days with no food. The fear is, for each of the birds that have been captured and saved, many more have already perished in the wild.
The center says any pelican found acting strangely should be reported immediately to local animal control. For information about donating or volunteering visit the International Bird Rescue website.