Below is a wildlife story that was presented to attendees at Toto's Gala: The Dreams that We Dare to Dream at Monona Terrace on March 14, 2025:
We dream of a world where we leave the environment better than we found it—where human-made items like fishing tackle, hooks, glue traps, and barbed wire aren’t left behind or used to harm innocent animals. Of the wild animals admitted last year (2024) to DCHS’s Wildlife Center, 60 suffered injuries directly related to these kinds of items, yet only one in four could be saved.
Among those survivors was an American White Pelican found in August of 2024 along a lakeshore in Beaver Dam. The pelican arrived at our Wildlife Center in terrible condition. A hook pierced his beak, and a fishing line wrapped tightly around his body, cutting into his legs, wing, and mouth. An X-ray revealed even more—he swallowed a hook and sinker, making him susceptible to further internal damage. The hook was deeply embedded in his esophagus and the sinker was slowly being absorbed by his body, leaving him with lead poisoning. He was also covered in lice because he was unable to preen himself clean while wrapped up in fishing line. His condition was critical.
Our team of licensed wildlife rehabilitators and sponsoring veterinarians from the Wildlife Medicine Program at UW-Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine worked side-by-side to untangle and treat the juvenile pelican while he was under sedation. They tended to his external wounds, wrapped his injured wing, and managed his lice. Our Senior Wildlife Veterinary Technician had to reach deep down into his esophagus to carefully remove the hook and sinker. Here is what they gently removed (hold items up). Now that the pelican’s mouth and beak were free from the hook and fishing line, he could finally eat, and the tissue around his right leg was no longer restricted, meaning the threat of losing a limb had passed.
A few days of healing and rest in our wildlife hospital was necessary for staff to provide an initial course of antibiotics and closely monitor him. He was moved to a small outdoor flight pen as soon as he was stable and able to stand, but he couldn’t be placed in water for long. To ensure his wounds healed properly, the team changed his bandages twice daily to keep them clean. His right leg suffered the worst injuries, and we were concerned about his posture. Pelicans are heavy birds, but because of his injuries, he was walking on his back toe, folding it, and severely limping. We placed a sandal on his foot to help him walk more naturally, which made a significant difference. The swelling and scabbing around his wounds were so severe that he needed pain medications for many weeks. Once he had recovered well enough to go in water to swim, the aerobic therapy helped his leg grow stronger and heal.
Every day, staff, interns, and volunteers removed his leg bandage in the morning and moved him to an enclosure with fresh, clean water that was deep enough for him to swim all day. At night, he was provided with evening wound care, leg bandaging, and medications, moved back to his “non-swimming” enclosure for further rest and recovery, and was given lots and lots of fish to eat.
After nearly two months of treatment, he was moved into a larger flight pen where he enjoyed more space to maneuver and was swimming in deeper water at his leisure. His recovery progressed so well that less than a week later, we moved him into our new 100-foot solar flight pen to test his flying abilities. We were so excited about this move – not only because he was our first patient to use the Roger Werndli Memorial Solar Flight Pen, but we never had a space large enough where a bird of this size could take flight! After nearly a week in the solar flight pen working on his conditioning, the moment we all hoped for arrived—he was ready to return to the wild.
In early November 2024, we transported him to Crawford County, where a flock of migrating pelicans awaited him. As we watched him take flight, strong and free alongside the Mississippi River, we knew we had given him the second chance he had been dreaming of while in our care. This—this—is why we do what we do.
The use of our new 100-foot solar flight pen, and the recovery and release of this pelican is a dream come true for DCHS’s Wildlife Center. Our Wildlife Center is supported 100 percent by donors like YOU. It’s only thanks to YOUR generosity that our Wildlife Center can rehabilitate thousands of sick, injured, or orphaned wild animals each year and return them to their native habitats. It’s our way of leaving the world better than we found it.
