Clever Pelican Knocks on NOAA Door to Ask For Help With Injury
Extraordinarily, an injured pelican in Florida picked on exactly the right place to knock on a door (using its beak) looking for much needed help.
The remarkable encounter occurred at the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Panama City, Florida, when staff heard a distinct tapping sound coming from the door. When they went to investigate, they found a pelican waiting on the doorstep with fishing line wrapped around its wing, a deeply embedded fishhook, and cactus spines stuck in its left foot. Happily, the bird had come to exactly the right place.
According to NOAA, the pelican had a double-barbed treble hook deeply embedded in its right wing, along with several feet of monofilament fishing line wrapped around it. Luckily, the staff included expert animal handlers who quickly stepped in to help.
The team carefully snipped the hook's barb, removed the hook, and unwound the fishing line from the bird's wing. They also removed the cactus spines from its foot. It only took a few minutes and the NOAA biologists said the pelican remained surprisingly calm throughout the process. "It must have known it was in good hands!" the organization posted on social media.
Once freed from its impediments and its injuries had been treated, the bird received a clean bill of health, and was ready to return to the wild. So, it took to the sky. It's wonderful that the wild pelican somehow knew or instinctively realised that humans would help, if asked.
