MIAMI (WSVN) - A stork that was seriously ill is now a free bird after some South Florida veterinarians came to its rescue.
The male wood stork stepped out into the wild on Friday after spending 38 days recovering at the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station.
The bird was rescued over a month ago and is now well enough to return to its home in Northwest Miami-Dade.
Wood storks are the only stork species native to North America.
Chloe Chelz, the assistant director at Pelican Harbor, said the station has only treated 11 wood storks in its 42-year history.
“This is the first one out of all of those that’s actually made it, and that we’re gonna be able to re-release back into the wild,” she said.
Chelz said someone who called the wildlife facility had spotted the bird and noticed it hadn’t moved for quite a while.
“We received a call from a neighbor in this area that had been seeing the bird not doing well for about a day,” she said.
The stork was suffering from botulism, a disease caused by a toxin from bacteria that causes paralysis and can be lethal.
Chelz said the illness is common in birds.
“When he was found, he was very weak. He could barely move or lift his head,” she said.
A member of the station came by to rescue the bird.
“We have a team that, when they’re able to, can mobilize and come out and pick the bird up, so we actually had a staff member come retrieve the bird and bring it back to our wildlife facility,” said Chelz.
Thankfully, the stork made it through treatment.
“Initially, the staff did not think that he was going to make it, but he miraculously has and was moved to an outdoor pen that we have for animals which are about to be released and has made a full recovery, so we’re delighted,” said Chelz.
The stork was released in the same place he was found, healthy and free once again.
The wood stork used to be an endangered species, but thanks to conservation efforts, it was downlisted to threatened in Florida.
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