My name is Stormboy and as a young pelican I learnt that hanging out at the local fishing jetty was a much easier way to acquire a fish than hunting for myself. It was also much more dangerous, and I regularly got myself hooked or entangled in fishing line.
I am one cheeky pelican and despite multiple attempts by animal rehabilitators in my hometown of Geraldton I continued to get up to mischief. I was brought into care many times for various injuries and released far away, but always found my way back to the fishing jetty.
There were two solutions decided upon by the authorities - find me a new and safe home, or euthanasia. In January 2017, when I was 6 months old, Caversham Wildlife Park provided me a home where I can safely steal fish (from my keepers!) without getting entangled in fishing line or acquire further injuries from fishing hooks.
My companion arrived in June 2019 (aged 12 months); her name is Billie. She was hand-reared and lacks the skills to search and find her own food; skills I refused to learn as a juvenile wild bird.
We both look forward to feed time where we can compete for the first and last fish of the feed.
Although we like the occasional swim and we are very buoyant, our feathers do not have a lot of waterproofing oil, so we can become very wet and cold. This is why you often see our wild pals roosting on light posts or hanging out on the shore.
