climate in crisis

Brown Pelicans Starving Due to Warmer Ocean

NBC Universal, Inc.

The impacts of warmer ocean temperatures are affecting brown pelicans along the California coast. They’re washing ashore many starving, weighing half their normal body weight, or are already dead.

Rebecca Duerr at the International Bird Rescue Wildlife Center explains that fish are going deeper into the ocean in search of colder water. And there’s fewer fish for the pelicans to eat.

Duerr talked to NBC LX about the influx of brown pelicans being rehabbed at their facility in San Pedro.

"So far, with the 100 birds we’ve released, we’ve had six of them resighted between San Luis Obispo and San Francisco peninsula. That’s just fabulous!" Duerr said. "Because that means that the ones we’re releasing are not just going out to starve to death again. They actually can recover quite nicely. They’re a resilient bird. So resilient. But we have to look out for them because they can’t do anything about the environment that we’ve created that they have to live in."

Watch the full story on LX.com.

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