MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
There's a mystery in California over what's causing the sickness and death of hundreds of brown pelicans. Yesterday, the California Department of Fish and Game released a preliminary report, suggesting that the cold snap in the Pacific Northwest might be part of the problem. More tests are pending. In the meantime, wildlife rescuers are trying to save the remaining birds, as Gloria Hillard reports.
GLORIA HILLARD: This fishing pier is a popular hang put for California brown pelicans. About a dozen of the long-necked birds are perched here. As wildlife rescuers Dave Weeshoff and Bob Beckler approached the feathered assemblage, the birds gently take to the air. Weeshoff and Beckler are here for the ones that are sick and unable to fly.
BOB BECKLER: Dave.
DAVE WEESHOFF: Yeah?
BECKLER: Let's get this guy.
WEESHOFF: OK. We need a net?
BECKLER: Maybe.
HILLARD: Another bird is in trouble.
BECKLER: He's a little weak.
HILLARD: This is one is in the water.
WEESHOFF: You got it?
HILLARD: Weeshoff, drapes a small white sheet over the bird to calm him. In his arms, it looks as if he's holding a small child in a makeshift Halloween ghost costume. Gently, the bird is folded into a carrier.
(SOUNDBITE OF PEOPLE TALKING)
HILLARD: At the International Bird Rescue and Research Center in San Pedro, they've taken in more than 45 ailing pelicans in the last two weeks. Rehabilitation manager Julie King and her staff have been working around the clock trying to save them.
JULIE KING: To see what we're seeing now is very out of the ordinary.
HILLARD: In previous years, the endangered pelicans have been plagued with domoic acid poisoning, a neurotoxin found in algae blooms, King says.
KING: Generally, birds that come in with domoic acid poisoning have some fairly severe neurological symptoms. And none of the birds that we've been seeing necessarily exhibit any of those symptoms, other than the general disorientation.
HILLARD: Initial blood and tissue tests have shown trace amounts of domoic acid, but researchers believe it may be playing a secondary role to a larger problem. What that is, they don't know yet. Hundreds of birds from Baja to Washington State have been found dead or sick, far from their coastal home, including a pelican found wandering in the snow at an elevation of 7,000 feet in New Mexico.
(SOUNDBITE OF PELICAN CALL)
HILLARD: The federal government wants to remove the bird from the endangered species list, but wildlife rescuers on the ground say, that's a mistake. Longtime volunteer Dave Weeshoff says, the majestic bird has not had an easy go of it.
WEESHOFF: Every day, we see fishhooks. Almost every day, we see gunshots - pellet guns, BB guns, that sort of thing - monofilament fishing line. So, there's just a lot of different pressures on these birds, in terms of being able to survive out in the wild.
HILLARD: For now, the two dozen or so pelicans rehabilitating in the center's large aviary and water pool are the lucky ones. These birds, King says, are showing signs of improvement.
KING: Yeah, that we'll actually be able to release all the ones that we have is definitely our biggest hope. And also, that we're releasing them into a safe environment.
HILLARD: Which is not necessarily the case, is it?
KING: Right, right. So, I think we'll definitely be taking them. Our main goal is to do what we can for them as quickly as we can and get them back out into the environment.
HILLARD: Even with all its perils. For NPR News, I'm Gloria Hillard.