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Aug 2023
The Knaresborough resident who alerted Blackpool Zoo to the presence of its missing pelican at Hay-a-Park has described Wednesday as the “craziest day of her life”.
Chantelle Wilfan spotted the Eastern white pelican on the lake at around 10.15am while taking her son, three-year-old Leo, for a walk.
Told by a birdwatcher it must be the one that had escaped earlier in the month, she called Blackpool Zoo, which immediately dispatched a posse of zookeepers to take the bird into custody.
Chantelle, who watched the action unfold with Leo and her mother, Debbie Pedel, told the Stray Ferret:
As reported by the Stray Ferret yesterday, the pelican was scared by gulls and blown away by a gust of wind on August 4 – the day Storm Antoni blew in off the Atlantic.
The juvenile pelican ended up 65 miles away from its home in Blackpool. Photo: Chantelle Wilfan.
Blackpool Zoo paid tribute to Chantelle and her family in a statement issued following the rescue:
The statement added:
The Eastern white pelican, also known as the great white pelican, is native to southeastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
Dalmatian pelicans once thrived in the wetlands of what is now East Yorkshire, Norfolk and Somerset, but were driven to extinction about 2,000 years ago.
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