January 2010 Update

NEW PELICAN VIDEO! Watch as WR&E staff gavage feed a juvenile pelican who was rescued from the fifth floor of a downtown high-rise. Click here to view the video!   UPCOMING EVENT – GOLF TOURNAMENT WR&E proudly announces its 6th Annual Benefit Golf Tournament will be held at Evergreen Point Golf Course in Baytown! This is a beautiful course, the azaleas will be in bloom and lucky participants may glimpse the resident pair of Bald Eagles. Mark Your Calendars Wednesday March 31, 2010  This year in addition to all the other goodies that you've come to expect at a WR&E Golf Tournament, there will be a silent auction.   CLICK HERE  for the registration form. CLICK HERE  to contact the Tournament Coordinator, E. J. Rogers.   UPCOMING EVENT – CARACARA RELEASE Great News!  The Caracara featured in the last newsletter has been moved to a large flight cage to condition his wings. While there, he has shown himself to be fit for release! Once the weather improves, we will be releasing him. We've reserved an invitation for you - watch you inbox for more details.   UPCOMING EVENT – OILED WILDLIFE RESPONSE WORKSHOPS WR&E is currently working out the logistics for the 2010 Oiled Wildlife Response Workshops. Demand continues to climb and WR&E is currently planning seven workshops! We’ll be in touch once dates are finalized.   PATIENT UPDATES The three amigos are happily relocated to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas. The high-rise pelican is eating with gusto and gaining weight. He will be released once we have an extended period of warm weather. The batting cage Barred Owl is recovering from his entanglement, he is eating well and will be moved to a large flight cage soon to [...]

High-rise Pelican

A Brown Pelican hatched in the spring and learned to fend for himself during the heat of the summer. But he was still young and inexperienced when the rain and cold came. A freeze drove the fish deeper into the water to escape the cold and he had a hard time finding enough food. Some Brown Pelicans migrate to warmer climates for the winter, others stay here year-round and stake out the better fishing areas and then there are the newbies. Every winter, sick, weak and parasite filled adolescent Brown Pelicans move inland in search for food. The call was intriguing; a Brown Pelican had parked itself on the fifth floor balcony of a high-rise condo downtown. It looked bewildered and seemed too weak to fly. The Brown Pelican is an endangered species and while the numbers are rebounding, they haven’t been delisted. WR&E doesn’t have the resources to respond to most wildlife calls,  occasionally a case is so extreme and retrieval so dangerous that volunteers feel compelled. In this case, WR&E enlisted the help of the Houston SPCA Rescue drivers. The Houston SPCA and WR&E are affiliated organizations and we work jointly to aid animals in crisis.  Back at the Wildlife Center, the pelican was found to be emaciated and dehydrated. Once the immune system was compromised, the intestinal parasites that were kept in check had begun to wildly multiply. A veterinarian from Texas A&M Veterinary School and her students performed a complete examination. The pelican was given medication for the parasites and warm fluids via gavage feeding. A video of the pelican being gavage fed will be posted soon. A e-mail “blast” will be sent to our distribution list when this video is [...]

On the Road

The three amigos (Endangered Brown Pelicans) finally have all of their Texas Parks and Wildlife and United States Fish and Game permits and are ready for their trip to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas. A WR&E volunteer will be driving them to their new home tomorrow.  The volunteers that specialize in fish eating birds will really miss them.     Click here to view the video footage posted to Channel 11's website. The Amigos are safely on their way to Brownsville.

Go to Top