CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The death of a pelican has “turned tragedy into positive action,” according to a wildlife rescuer.
The pelican was found with a wing badly injured last week at Black Crown Marsh in McHenry County.
Dawn Keller, founder of Flint Creek Wildlife Rescue, and the DNR got involved.
“The rescue was amazing. He was swimming through the marsh. And ultimately one of the officers, Conservation Police Officer Jeff Kelly, got out of the boat and waded through the reeds in order to get to the pelican," Keller said.
Unfortunately, the pelican couldn’t be saved.
It’s believed that the bird flew into a power line.
“The power lines literally cut right through the marsh and so as the birds fly in they don’t see the lines and they hit them," Keller said.
Keller learned another pelican, swans, and other birds have met the same fate.
WBBM: So you reach out to ComEd and they’re responsive?
“Oh, my gosh....They have a person within ComEd whose job is to focus on aviation protection," Keller said.
And the company is assessing the lines for the placement of markers that make them more visible to the birds.
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