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A herd of brown pelicans rehabilitated Wednesday morning have returned to the wild after being poisoned in the bloom of toxic algae earlier this year.
Animal care experts at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center rescued and provided treatment for birds.
The marine habitat, once toxic for algae blooming, is ready for them to settle there again as the flowers die down. WWCC officials coordinated the release Wednesday morning at Huntington Beach City Beach, just south of the pier.
Huntington Beach junior lifeguard team members supported the release and provided hands-on experiences in wildlife conservation and marine ecosystem health, WWCC said in a news release.
A herd of brown pelicans rehabilitated Wednesday morning have returned to the wild after being poisoned in the bloom of toxic algae earlier this year. (KTLA)
WWCC Executive Director Debbie McGuire called the rehabilitated Pelican release a “special moment.”
“Watching them fly is a powerful reminder of why our work is important,” McGuire said.
Chip Yost, the KTLA 5 Orange County Director, who attended the event, said 13 Pelicans were left of the cage, so they didn’t release completely as planned, as most of them left the cage and most were “just standing” on the beach.
“It was a few minutes… Everyone said, ‘Are they going to go? Are they going to fly away?” But in the end they did,” Yost reported. “At least most of them flew away.”
A herd of brown pelicans returned to the wild Wednesday morning after being poisoned in the bloom of toxic algae earlier this year. (KTLA)
In the end, there were only two stubborn Pelicans. One flew away, but the other returned to the beach and the other didn’t fly at all.
The pair was determined to be not yet ready to be released when they were released, and were returned to the WWCC facility for further repair.
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Overall, Yost said the Pelicans that flew away “looked pretty good” in the air. Some of the junior lifeguards he spoke to said that while none of them looked over the age of 12, they returned to “say goodbye” as a gesture of gratitude for human help.
A herd of pelicans flew near Huntington Beach Pier on July 9, 2025, rehabilitated near Huntington Beach Pier. (KTLA)
The WWCC treated about 200 pelicans after the toxic algae bloom, also known as the “red tide,” in which the toxic algae flowers that formed earlier this year. Half of the birds have died, officials said, but of the other 100, about 80 have already returned to the wild.
The outbreak also affected other marine life, including sea lions, dolphins and whales, causing local marine care facilities to be overwhelmed by the sick animals. It has also been found that recreational harvesting shellfish should not be recreational harvested due to toxic flowers.
According to the Marine Mammal Care Centre, domoacid comes from Pseudo-Nitzkia Australia, a type of algae that produces toxins that are considered by the National Marine and Atmospheric Administration as one of the most important threats to marine animals.
It spreads to large animals like sea lions and dolphins without eating contaminated sardines, anchovies and shellfish that already consume toxic algae.
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