Dead pelicans washing ashore were killed by humans

Sasha Johnson | Asst. News Editor

An unprecedented number of pelicans have washed up on the shores of North Carolina in the past two months, dead from injuries that appear to have been caused by humans. Some were beaten to death with a blunt instrument or shot with a shotgun; others were decapitated. Most recently, people are reporting birds with feet cut off, says Toni O’Neil, director of Possumwood Acres Wildlife Sanctuary, although no one has produced such a carcass.

The Associated Press reports that 60 birds this year have washed up on North Carolina’s beaches, predominantly Carolina Beach and North Topsail Beach. “Pelicans are ocean birds. They don’t get tossed around by waves,” said Mary Ellen Rogers, director of Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter in Oak Island. “If that were the case, they would be getting injured in the summer. But all the recreational fisherman and people on the beach have gone home.”

Rogers says she has a theory that points to commercial fishermen. “The pelicans are coming up with these injuries only when commercial fishermen are active,” she said. Pelicans, especially the young and less wise, are attracted to what they would consider a buffet—the deck of a fishing boat. Rogers says this is when the brutalities are probably occurring. O’Neil agrees that the birds are being injured and killed out on the ocean and not on land.

“I could see somebody keeping a box of heads or feet,” said O’Neil, who suspects the perpetrators may be keeping trophies.

“Our local fishermen are not doing this,” Rogers said. Since most of the carcasses and injured birds seem to be coming from farther up the coast, Rogers points to Moorhead City. She said a lot of new fishermen have come up to North Carolina in 2010 from the Gulf, where they had been losing money ever since the BP oil spill.

O’Neil said federal and state agencies met Thursday to coordinate a plan of action. Possumwood Acres along with Crime Stoppers of Jacksonville, PETA, the Humane Society and concerned citizens and animal lovers have donated a total reward of $6,000 to catch the perpetrators.

Rogers is currently caring for eight pelicans with human-inflicted wounds at Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter. She says many birds are delivered to the shelter too late with injuries too severe, and they either have to be euthanized or die by the time they arrive. O’Neil said just a few have been able to recover, and one pelican was healthy enough to be released in Emerald Isle. Some carcasses are being sent to the University of Georgia for necropsies; federal agents are handling others.

“These are big goofy birds,” said Rogers. “They are attracted to the fish. They don’t hurt anybody.”