Pink the Pelican, who was found in April along the coast in Long Beach with its throat slashed, showed off its surgically reconstructed pouch after being freed Tuesday.
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Another Sicko Around Here Seriously Injures a California Brown Pelican, Slits Its Jaw Pouch
Actually, the California brown pelican underwent two surgeries–and made a speedy recovery from both, according to Pink's caretakers at International Bird Rescue in San Pedro, which is where the bird was released. Here's a brief look at him showing off his repaired pouch:
“With such a severe animal cruelty case, it's wonderful that we were able to help this animal and that animal control was able to capture the bird and bring it into us so we could help it,” Erika Lander, the wildlife center's manager, told City News Service.
Whoever cut Pink, who was recovered April 16 by Long Beach animal control workers in the 5400 block of Ocean Boulevard, near Bayshore Park, remains a mystery. The reward to find whoever is responsible has grown to $7,500.
By the way, Pink's name comes from the color of the band that was around his leg in surgery and recovery.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.