HAULOVER BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — An injured pelican was rescued by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Ocean Rescue Crews, Tuesday morning.
The pelican attempted to take flight near a shore line off Haulover Beach. "He wasn’t moving around," said Thiago Chote of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Ocean Rescue. "When I got closer, he tried to fly, and he couldn’t, so my opinion was a broken wing."
Rescue crews took the bird off the beach and placed it in a holding container where it couldn’t further injure its wing. "It’s not only about humans, it’s also about animals, you know, to protect the environment," Chote said. "We do have a dog beach here and all of us are training to perform CPR on dogs, so we take it serious."
The pelican will be taken to Pelican Harbor Seabird Station for treatment. "She will go under treatment for whatever it is she has now," said a Pelican Harbor Seabird Station employee. "We will definitely get her started on some fluids. We always assume that they are dehydrated. Our best staff will look at her, and hopefully she’ll be on her road to recovery soon."
Both Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Ocean Rescue and the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station work to protect all aquatic birds that find themselves in trouble. "Always thankful to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue," the Seabird Station worker said. "They help us with so many birds every year, and it’s always nice to always have them on the team."
Crews said the pelican’s wing could have snapped after getting tangled in fishing wire.