PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Junk food handouts from humans are tempting formerly endangered brown pelicans into staying on the Oregon coast when they should be migrating south.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says the pelicans are getting sick off hotdogs, donuts and potato chips.
The pelicans were on the federal Endangered Species List until 2009, threatened by the insecticide DDT. The pesticide was banned, but junk food poses a new threat, the Oregonian reports (http://bit.ly/tx9ka4 ).
Tall, rough waves keep them out of the ocean, where they find their typical diet of fish.
That would typically send them south to California, but wildlife biologist Herman Biederbeck says the handouts encourage the birds to stay on the coast.
