As an animal services officer, Troy Lombas is used to rescuing cats and dogs, not wild animals. So when Fresno Humane Animal Services got a call from California Highway Patrol about a pelican with a broken wing, Lombas was surprised.
On his drive over to pick up the bird, Lombas began to doubt whether the person who reported the pelican had been mistaken.
“Honestly, what was going through my head was, like, ‘Is this really a pelican?’” Lombas told The Dodo. “I was thinking maybe it was some type of smaller bird that was just mistaken for a pelican.”
But when Lombas arrived and saw the bird, there was no longer any doubt in his mind that he was dealing with a pelican.
“My first thought was, ‘That’s a really big bird,’” Lombas said.
Neither Lombas nor the Highway Patrol officer had ever rescued a pelican before, but they created a plan on the spot. They positioned their vehicles to block the pelican from running into incoming traffic.
As they attempted to catch the pelican, he kept trying to escape, but was having trouble because of his broken wing. Before long, the two officers were able to get the bird into a dog crate Lombas had brought with him.
Fresno Humane Animal Services
It turns out that the rescue was unusual for more than one reason. While pelicans are typically found near the ocean, Lombas found the bird close to Coalinga, California, which is over 70 miles from the coast.
“Pelicans are usually beach lovers, so finding one so far from the ocean was like spotting a fish out of water,” Fresno Humane Animal Services wrote on Facebook.
No one is certain about why the pelican ended up so far inland, but Lombas suspects that perhaps the bird had been trying to hunt fish in the aqueduct that runs along the I-5.
Fresno Humane Animal Services
As soon as Lombas arrived at the Fresno Humane Animal Services facility, he and the rest of the staff tried their best to make the pelican as comfortable as possible.
“In the office, we played a little bit of ocean sounds and stuff on our phones to kind of calm him.” Lombas said.
Fresno Humane Animal Services
After a night at the facility, the pelican was transferred into the care of a foster at Critter Creek Wildlife Station, where he’ll heal and recover until he’s ready to be released.
Thanks to Lombas’ willingness to do an animal rescue that was out of his comfort zone, the injured pelican will get a second chance.
If you’d like to support other animals like this pelican, you can make a donation to Fresno Humane Animal Services here and to Critter Creek Wildlife Station here.
Woman Catches Her Dog Scaling Backyard Fence — Then Realizes Sweet Reason Why“I thought I was seeing things.”