Rescued pelican to be released after rehabilitation

By ===Hamilton Kahn

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    SANTA FE, New Mexico (KOAT) — A pelican rescued in Santa Fe this week should be ready to return to the wild soon, according to experts at the New Mexico Wildlife Center.

Liz Kendall and Tony Carlson, full-time wildlife rehabilitators at the center, told KOAT that the bird is on the mend.

“He’s doing much better than when he came in Monday,” Ke3ndall said. “We’re not self-feeding, but that’s not unusual, but he’s very feisty and wants to bite us every time we interact with him. That means he recognizes us as predators, and he’s trying to fend us off.”

The pelican has a fracture in his wing that had healed, and he has a full range of motion. He was thin and had a low temperature from the stress of not being near a body of water, but that is no longer the case, Kendall said.

Carlson said that pelicans habitually migrate through New Mexico but don’t stay. An injured pelican hasn’t been rescued and brought to the Wildlife Center since 2018.

“We’re hoping to get him out of here next weekend,” Carlson said. “We’re looking to release him in an area where there are other flocks of white pelicans currently.”

Kendall said the pelican was getting a liquid diet when he arrived there.

“Now we’ve moved him onto whole fish going straight down the pelican throat,” Kendall said. The type of fish doesn’t really matter, she said, but so far, they all have been trout.

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