© Scripps Media, IncThe search is on for the person wildlife rangers said slashed and ripped open the pouches of several Brown Pelicans in South Florida.
Florida Keys Wildlife Refuge Director Maya Totman said Friday that 10 pelicans have been found dead.
The birds are being found with the large pouches they use to catch food almost entirely cut through. The pelicans are left unable to hunt and swallow their food, leaving them to starve to death slowly.
"With the way the cuts are done, fish slide out of the pouch and the bird can't eat. It gets weaker and weaker and dies," Totman tells The Key West Citizen.
Nancy Finley, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services at the Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Big Pine Key, said the cuts don't appear to be a natural occurrence.
"The cuts are deep, all the way to the windpipe," she said. "It appears to be a knife slice."
Some pelicans also have been spotted flying around with their pouches slashed, raising concerns more could die, Totman said.
The birds with slashed pouches have been found from Sugarloaf Key to Key West. Some have been recovered, and if the cuts are small, they are treated with manuka honey to speed up healing, Totman said.
If the cut is large, the pelican is taken to surgery to attempt to stitch up the slice, or the bird dies, she said.
"I really don't know who is doing this," Totman said. "Is it a fisherman throwing bones in the water, or is it a crazy person? It is just incredible that it is happening."
Pelicans are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and anyone injuring the birds is subject to fines and possible jail time if found guilty, Finley said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is investigating, and officials ask the public to report any sightings of injured pelicans.
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