Knocking for Help: A Pelican’s Unlikely Rescue

On a typical Tuesday, NOAA biologists were deep into their standard routine-analyzing data on sharks and studying fish populations. Then, staff heard an unmistakable tapping sound at the building's glass entryway. Standing on the stoop was a brown pelican, repeatedly rapping its beak against the door.

The bird seemed to be looking for help. When a staff biologist opened the door, the issue was immediately clear. The bird was entangled in heavy-duty fishing line, with a double-barbed treble hook deeply embedded in its right wing, and cactus spines in its left foot.

While NOAA's fish and shark experts are accustomed to handling thrashing predators at sea, treating an avian walk-in presented a different kind of challenge. Using the same steady hands they use for tagging and surgically implanting acoustic tags in sharks and sawfish, the team safely restrained the bird. They snipped the hook's barb and removed the hook, and unspooled several feet of monofilament line wrapped around its wing.

Biologists reported the pelican remained surprisingly calm during the 10-minute operation, almost as if it knew it was in good hands. Once freed and given a clean bill of health, the bird took to the sky entirely free of hook and line.

While this bird got its happy ending, NOAA biologists warn that improperly discarded fishing line remains a silent, deadly hazard. The monofilament line is virtually invisible underwater and takes hundreds of years to decompose. This creates deadly tangles that can strangle, injure, or kill coastal wildlife.

Anglers can do their part to protect local wildlife by:

• Always stowing used line in a secure container
• Dropping scrap monofilament into designated recycling bins at local boat ramps
• Switching to barbless hooks to make accidental snags far easier to remove

Hooked a bird? Our partners at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission explain what to do: Don't cut the line! Reel. Remove. Release .