Pelicans flooding Southern California wildlife care center after mysterious ‘mass-stranding’ event

Dozens of brown pelicans are being treated at a wildlife rescue center in Orange County, but officials aren’t entirely sure what’s making them sick.

The Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach has been treating the birds, which are being brought to the facility from all across Southern California.

“We started seeing an uptick in Brown Pelicans arriving on Saturday, April 2,” said Debbie McGuire, executive director of the nonprofit organization. “We have received 79 from mostly Orange County, while a few are being found inland. Fifty-one died within the first two hours of arrival.”

The organization said it’s part of an “extended mass-stranding event,” the cause of which remains unknown.

The birds that are coming in are emaciated and hypothermic, and many have also been tangled up in fishing gear, McGuire said.

Initial lab work has confirmed that the birds are in “starvation mode,” but many have been responding positively to treatment, which includes fluids, vitamins and food.

“The ones we are caring for have improved and are steadily gaining weight,” she said. “Follow-up lab work shows that their anemia and low total proteins in their blood are improving.”

But the care center is inundated and overwhelmed by the sudden arrival of the sick seabirds and it costs about $45 per day per bird to care for them, she said.

There are currently 28 receiving care at the center and dozens more are expected to arrive soon. That’s in addition to the hundreds of other animals that the organization is caring for independent of this mysterious mass-stranding event.

The organization is asking anyone willing to contribute to help pay for their care to make an online donation .

“Seabirds suffer a heavy toll when oceans are polluted and overfished, with some studies suggesting global seabird numbers have dropped nearly 70% since the 1950s,” McGuire said. “Your donation today could make a difference.”

Residents and beachgoers are being encouraged to look out for sick pelicans. If a bird doesn’t “flush and move away” when approached, it’s a likely sign that it’s sick and will need to be taken into care.

For more information about the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, click here .

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