Video: Pelicans Rescued During Hurricane Take Flight

For Immediate Release:
October 15, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

A new video released today shows the amazing moment when more than a dozen pelicans took flight together after being rescued during Hurricane Dorian and rehabilitated.

PETA staff rescued five of the pelicans, who were stranded—and unable to fly—on a busy bridge during the storm. The group took the birds, who had become exhausted and disoriented, to Tidewater Rehabilitation & Environmental Education (TREE), where one was treated for exposed tendons in her wing and the rest for cuts and scrapes. After recovering for a month at TREE, the pelicans—along with 12 others rescued during the storm—were released, taking flight together and soaring over the bay. One bird even circled back to make sure that all of his companions had successfully taken off.

“The breathtaking sight of once wind-battered birds soaring high together above the bay is a reminder of how rewarding rescuing animals can be,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA urges everyone to remember that natural disasters affect all our neighbors—and to keep an eye out for wildlife in need.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in way”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. More information is available here.