It took teamwork to save the life of a wounded pelican on Isabella Lake

Apr. 14—It was a rainy Sunday afternoon in early February, and Kern River Valley resident Eva Hollmann was picking up trash around the Old Isabella parking lot, off Highway 178.

That's when she spotted a solitary American white pelican on the beach below.

Hollmann, 75, is no stranger to the lake and its wildlife, and she immediately figured something was wrong.

The pelicans "are never solo," she said in a Facebook post later that day.

"So I walked toward him to see what was what," she said. "He was tied up in knots and bleeding profusely, likely due to fishing tackle."

Hollmann had seen the lethal effects of discarded fishhooks, lures and line on other local water birds at Isabella Lake. Past incidents she had documented had resulted in the deaths of the birds, and Hollmann was determined that would not happen this time around.

She couldn't get close enough to help the distressed pelican, but thanks to contacts on social media, she was able to reach Ryan Hitchings, a wildlife officer with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"I was already in the area," Hitchings recalled in a phone interview Friday.

He met Hollmann at the scene and soon realized a fishing lure was caught in the pelican's bill pouch, while another hook on the lure had pierced its wing.

The pelican eluded Hitchings at first but eventually he was able to grasp the big bird and lift him up into his arms. Then, while Hollmann hugged the pelican close, Hitchings proceeded to cut away the three-hook fishing lure.

One hook had indeed snagged the pouch beneath his bill and another had pierced the underside of his wing.

"There was much damage to both, and we thought he would not be able to feed himself for a while," Hollmann said in her post.

The only thing to do was get the pelican some veterinary care and a place where he could take time to heal.

They wrapped him in a blanket, and then zipped him into Hitching's uniform jacket. But the bird was determined to break free, and he did. After nearly losing the rescued bird, the wildlife officer drove to pick up a cage for transport, while Hollmann held the pelican in her vehicle until Hitchings returned and began an hours-long drive to a wildlife care facility on the coast.

"Eva was really the star of the show here," Hitchings said, looking back at the ordeal. "Without her, this rescue would not have ended like this."

Eventually the wounded pelican landed at Pacific Wildlife Care in Morro Bay.

Care center Director Vann Masvidal was there alone when the pelican arrived.

"The bird was a big, bloody mess," Masvidal said.

And he was quite large.

"His wing span was wider than I am tall," he said.