From the 807 to the 305: how an injured northwestern Ontario pelican found a sunny new home
Penny traveled over 3,300 kilometres not by wing, but mostly by car and plane
An injured pelican made friends with a family from northwestern Ontario and is now soaking up the sun in Miami, Fla.
Penny the pelican traveled over 3,300 kilometres, not by wing, but mostly by car and plane, to get to a new home with a seabird rescue organization.
On Aug. 31, Deb Bissonnette and her family were finishing dinner at their home in Shuniah, Ont., a municipality near Thunder Bay, when they saw a pelican outside.
"I looked out the side door, and there was a pelican looking in the house," Bissonnette said.
"And I was like, 'What is that?'"
Something was clearly wrong
The Bissonnette family could tell the pelican was in need of help, so they made a plan to take care of it.
While watching the pelican eat, they could see that something was wrong with its neck.
"Her ability to swallow was a little impaired, and then there was quite a sizeable gash to the left front side of her body." explained Bissonnette.
Every morning, they would wake up to find the pelican was still there.
So they nicknamed it Penny.
"Over the next five weeks, Penny became like a part of the family, dining on three to four pounds of store-bought, boneless, skinless fish a day," Bissonnette said.
The couple's daughter, Alex, became Penny's main caretaker, often feeding her and even trying to teach her to fly again.
Each week that Penny was there, she grew stronger and healthier and began acting like a family member, Bissonnette said.
"You'd open the door and she was right there trying to get in the house. It was incredible. … She also spent a lot of time in front of the family car where she could see her reflection. I could tell she was lonely."
Looking for a forever home
Bissonnette reached out to a number of wildlife rescue and animal protection agencies, but no one could take a pelican.
Finally, in October, Turtle Pond Wildlife Centre, a small rescue centre just outside Sudbury, said they could take Penny.
Bearskin Airlines donated a flight for the bird.
Once Penny arrived, staff did a number of tests on her, including blood work, X-rays, and a thorough vet exam.
Everything looked good, but Turtle Pond didn't have the proper facility to house a pelican long-term.
That meant that unless Penny found a forever home, she would have to be humanely euthanized.
The Bissonnettes searched for a centre that might be willing to take Penny.
They found Pelican Harbour Seabird Station, a nonprofit in Miami specializing in pelican rescues.
After six weeks of paperwork and lots of red tape, Pelican Harbour agreed to take Penny but she would need to make her way from Sudbury to Detroit to catch a flight to Florida.
Turtle Pond ended up making the nine-hour drive with Penny by converting their SUV into a pelican transport vehicle. .
Penny the pelican has now settled into her forever home – where staff discovered that Penny is actually a boy.
"He's got a great personality. We all love him, and he's been eating well, and his weight has gone up, and his feathers are starting to look a little bit better," said Renata Schneider, the veterinarian at Pelican Harbour Seabird Station." So I think he likes it in Florida."
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With files from Matt Fratpietro