MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — A viewer reached out to Tampa Bay 28 about pelicans getting injured near the Skyway Bridge, so reporter Annette Gutierrez looked into it.
The skyway fishing piers draw dozens of anglers every day - and sometimes, they come across pelicans.
Watch full report from Annette Gutierrez
"I feel very sad, very sad," said Osbaldo Leon, a fisherman.
"No one wants to mess with the birds, but it happens," said Hakan Ozer, a fisherman.
And unfortunately some of them end up hooked, entangled, or worse case scenario – dead.
"Even if you manage to save them, you still feel bad because you see them, they're suffering," said Ozer.
Knowing this -- a woman sent an email to Tampa Bay with a message saying Tampa’s symbolic Skyway Bridge is, “… being tarnished around that bridge and the adjacent fishing piers due to a huge massacre of pelicans and other seabirds going on everyday!“
Several rescue groups are working to save them — among them the ‘Friends of the Pelicans’ and the ‘Skyway Team Bird Rescue.’
C.J. Nemeth is a Skyway Team member who said on average, they get 18 calls a day about birds getting hooked, and roughly two or three of them end up going to rehab.
"The ones that are going to die of their injuries are usually, the line breaks and we can’t get to them, and they can go home at night to roost at say Miguel Bay - they get hung up in the mangroves and they hang there and die," said Nemeth.
Michael Martin contributes to the mission of the Friends of the Pelicans. Every day while on his boat fishing, he said he looks for birds in distress.
"I can’t ignore it because literally some of these birds end up in my back yard - wrapped in line," said Martin. "They’re either too seriously wrapped up to fly or in a really injured state."
The Friends of the Pelicans shared their stats from last year, which showed almost 1,000 rescues with nearly half of the birds found dead.
The organization said last month alone – they rescued 60 but found 47 dead.
Martin said in September, he found 30 injured birds – five of them were found dead.
"All of them are fishing pier casualties because some of them have hooks or lines," said Martin.
Martin and the local rescue groups said the worse thing people can do is cut the line.
That’s why the organizations do what they can to educate the public by sharing brochures and teaching the public how to help the Pelicans.
For more information on each organization, you can click on their webpages here: Friends of the Pelicans and Skyway Team Bird Rescue.
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Annette Gutierrez knows safety is important for every community. She’s focused on finding solutions and getting results for both crime and our roads. She takes pride in sharing stories from Sarasota and Manatee counties, so send Annette tips on how she can help.
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