CLEARWATER, Fla. — What do construction workers, a police officer and a bird rescue organization all have in common?
They were all involved in saving a pelican that witnesses saw "fall from the sky" Wednesday on Clearwater Beach.
According to the Clearwater Police Department, construction workers near Fifth Street and Coronado Drive reported the bird couldn't get back into the air after falling to the ground. Noticing it was in distress, they called police, and Officer Clark showed up.
Clark was able to "wrangle it into her hands" before putting it into the back of her police car with the help of the construction crew. The department said volunteers from Birds in Helping Hands responded a short time later to take the pelican, which was said to be limping in addition to not being able to fly.
The bird is now receiving care at the Seaside Seabird Sanctuary.
A spokesperson for Birds in Helping Hands, who has been in contact with the pelican's caretakers, said that the pelican was found to be very thin with a "slight" injury to one of its legs. She also said it was "filled with parasites."
Pelicans are seabirds that spend most of their time on or near the ocean. They're commonly found on beaches, sandbars, docks dredge spoil islands, estuarine islands, mangrove islands, sand spits and islets, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
If you come across a sick or injured pelican or any wildlife in distress, you're advised to leave it alone. Instead, call a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator or your nearest FWC office for assistance.
"Rarely are animals actually orphaned; the parent may be searching for food or observing its young from a distance," FWC's website reads.
In fact, keeping a sick or injured wildlife animal "beyond the time necessary to transport to a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator" is a violation of Florida law.