American White Pelican Named Boudreaux

collage of four photos of injured American white pelican in cage, walking, with wing bandaged, and being fed
Boudreaux the American white pelican arrived with a broken, infected wing that caused a lot of pain. Treatment helped ease his pain.

The following story about an American white pelican was submitted by All Things Wild Rehabilitation in Texas.

This American white pelican was on his way north flying in a V-formation with his flock when they landed at a pond near Fort Hood to feed on fish. While the other pelicans continued on their migration north, one lone male became entangled in brush on the side of the pond. Trying to free himself, he broke his wing. He was trapped.

The homeowner rescued the injured pelican and called for help. After a few transfers, he made his way to All Things Wild. The left wing was badly damaged, and there was the sickening smell of infection coming from the area of the wound.

At first the pelican was very snappy and uncooperative, using his long beak with a hook on the end. But you couldn’t blame him; he was in a lot of pain. After we got some pain medication down him and wrapped the wing to stabilize it, he became much more cooperative.

Because the pelican is the state bird of Louisiana, we decided to give him a good Cajun name: Boudreaux (pronounced Boo-droh). Boudreaux’s first medical procedure was to remove part of the wing and to treat the infection.

We found some whole frozen tilapia at the grocery store that we thawed to feed him, but the fish were a bit too wide, and Boudreaux had trouble getting them down. We also supplemented his diet with EmerAid IC made for piscivores (fish-eating animals).

Boudreaux Needs More Surgery

American white pelican standing in outdoor enclosure
Boudreaux is healing well and enjoying his heated, outdoor enclosure.
wing removal wound on American white pelican standing on clinic floor
His broken infected wing needed to be removed at a bird specialty hospital.

It was obvious to our veterinarian and the staff that Boudreaux needed additional surgery. Our veterinarian contacted her classmate from vet school, who agreed to treat Boudreaux’s wing at her veterinary clinic that specializes in birds.

Ultimately, the two veterinarians reviewed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife guidelines for wing removal. They decided that Boudreaux qualified for the exception, which requires veterinarian care for the life of the bird. Boudreaux traveled to the bird specialty hospital for the surgery.

It was a happy day for the staff and volunteers at All Things Wild when Boudreaux returned from surgery to our center. He had lost his damaged, infected wing, and he would never fly again, but he has a bright future as an ambassador at All Things Wild.

Future plans for Boudreaux include building an enclosure for him with a nice pool and working with him so he is comfortable meeting people. Although we have been told that white pelicans are snappy and difficult, Boudreaux seems happy to be around people. Pelicans make a soft grunt when they are among their flock in the wild, and Boudreaux grunts around us. We are his flock now.