More than a dozen brown pelicans who have been treated for domoic acid poisoning were released back to the wild in San Pedro on Wednesday.
The birds stood for just seconds at the open cage, then – all at once – took flight. One volunteer came out with her birdwatching binoculars to see them go home.
“I was surprised that it just went so fast,” she told KNX News’ Nataly Tavidian. “They looked like they knew what they were doing as a team. But they've been living together in an aviary, so they’re familiar with each other.
251 birds were brought into International Bird Rescue in a matter of weeks amid this year’s toxic algae bloom off the Southern California coast.
“Usually if something's affecting the environment, it is affecting a number of animals all at once,” said wildlife center manager Kylie Clatterbuck.
She said the other brown pelicans in their care are getting better and should be released slowly in the weeks to come. The birds are banded with blue tags so they can be tracked if they get sick again, but most do well post-rehab.
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“It's so much work, intensive care, really long hours to be able to rehabilitate these birds and get them back into the wild, and there could be so many different stories told with domoic acid and the way it affects birds, but these birds were a success and we're really happy to get them back out there and given a second chance,” Clatterbuck said.
The toxic algae bloom has also sickened sea lions and dolphins.
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