Wednesday, Jan. 27, started as a typical day for Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Environmental Conservation Officer Eugene Diefenbach, but by noon it was anything but, when, following a tip from the Connecticut Audubon Society, he and Officer Mike Curran were dispatched to a marina in Essex to rescue a rare visitor to these parts: a brown pelican.
Rescuing distressed wildlife is a unique part of the job for a DEEP EnCon Officer, and a mix of training, consultation with DEEP Wildlife Biologists and other conservation agency partners, and even life experience help to prepare them to respond in such varied situations, be it safely transporting an injured eagle or helping to free a deer caught in a soccer goal’s netting.
Upon arrival at the marina, Officers Diefenbach and Curran found that there were already people in place using spotting scopes to monitor the pelican, which was floating in icy water close to a dock. As Diefenbach and Curran were retrieving catch poles from their truck, the pelican floated underneath the dock. Laying flat on his stomach, Diefenbach gently tried to angle his catch pole to secure the pelican, which was extremely docile, telling Diefenbach and Curran that something wasn’t right with the bird.
“That was the biggest thing we noticed, if a wild animal’s not afraid of humans, that’s definitely a sign that something’s not quite right,” Diefenbach said.
With the pelican safely secured, Curran hoisted the bird from the water, taking care to keep its wings and legs contained, and gently placed it in a bin. The officers, driving slowly, then transported the pelican to A Placed Called Hope, a bird rehabilitation and education center in Killingworth.
Christine Cummings, President and Founder of A Place Called Hope, said today that this is the first pelican
