Video: Wind-Battered Pelicans Rescued During Hurricane Dorian

For Immediate Release:
September 6, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

As you cover the effects of Hurricane Dorian, we wanted to share this dramatic video footage of an animal rescue mission undertaken today in Virginia Beach, Virginia, near PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk.

With Hurricane Dorian in full swing, PETA’s emergency rescue team sprang into action after receiving a report of a pelican who was stranded—and unable to fly—on a busy bridge. PETA’s first responders scooped up the first animal, who was huddled on the sidewalk, along with four more who were wind-battered and disoriented, struggling to take flight in the middle of the road as cars whizzed past. They took the birds to a local rehabber, and one was treated for exposed tendons in her wing and the rest for cuts and scrapes. Once they recover (and Dorian passes), they’ll be released back into the wild.

“One call from a good Samaritan helped get these poor shell-shocked pelicans on the road to recovery,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA urges everyone to take action for animals during natural disasters, including by always taking animal companions with them during evacuations and keeping an eye out for animals in need.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in way,” and which opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview—offers hurricane-preparedness public service announcements (available here), which we hope you’ll consider including in any future hurricane coverage.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.