Renowned animal rescuer Nigel Williamson releases Lance Number Three back into the wild at Berwick Springs lake last week. Picture: Luke Plummer.By Callan Date
A BIG-BILLED Berwick bird was released back into the wild last week, but not before leaving his rescuer with a large bill of his own.
Renowned animal saviour Nigel Williamson released the pelican, dubbed Lance Number Three, at Berwick Springs lake on Friday.
The pelican first came to the attention of News readers last month after he was found with a 10cm fishing lure hooked to the side of his body.
Mr Williamson was quick to come to the aid of Lance Number Three, who was named in honour of Australian Seabird Rescue founder Lance Ferris, and started to rehabilitate the bird back to full health at his Devon Meadows property.
After four weeks of antibiotics and various other treatments, the pelican was healthy enough to start fending for himself again.
“It all went very well,” Mr Williamson said.
“We let him go and then he had a look around for a bit and he then paddled out to the little platform that is in the middle of the lake.”
Mr Williamson also rescued two other pelicans from other parts of Melbourne at about the same time the Berwick bird was saved.
“The three birds were costing about $40 a day to feed,” he said.
“As well as the antibiotics and sea salt tablets we had to give them, all up it probably cost about $1000 to look after them.”
Mr Williamson, who has run Nigel’s Animal Rescue since 1989, said he received no government funding and relied solely on payments from customers who needed animals removed from private property.
He said he did the job to help save injured and distressed animals and not for any financial gain.
“We were quite amazed about how quickly this pelican recovered from his injuries,” Mr Williamson said.
“He made a 100 per cent recovery and we are extremely happy with the result.”
