Courtesy Photo | Two American White Pelicans swim in a pond in the Bonnet Carré Spillway in St....... read more read more
Numerous species of fish and wildlife call the waters and marshland of the Bonnet Carré Spillway home in St. Charles Parish, La. On occasion, some of those animal visitors and residents suffer injuries while in the area, and that’s when park rangers with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, step in to try and lend a helping hand.
Whenever park rangers come across injured or distressed wildlife in the spillway, they try to help rescue and release them back into their natural environment when possible. However, some injured animals might require a little more assistance than the rangers can provide on their own.
“We occasionally come across injured animals within the spillway, and there are several places we can bring them,” said John “Rusty” Munson, USACE New Orleans District Bonnet Carré Spillway natural resources specialist and senior park ranger.
The Louisiana State University Veterinary School, the Audubon Zoo, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are organizations he and the other park rangers have contacted to see who can take the animals in for rehab and medical care, noted Munson.
“The Audubon Zoo and LSU Veterinary School in Baton Rouge have taken many birds in the past, mostly pelicans and a couple of great blue heron,” said Munson. “We even rescued a couple of injured juvenile bald eagles. One was taken to a rehab specialist in Livingston Parish under the direction of USFWS. The other eagle was taken by LDWF and brought to the rehab specialist there.”
Two feathered spillway residents who have more recently made the Bonnet Carré Spillway their home since their injuries are a couple of American White Pelicans.
“We don’t know their age or what caused their injuries, but from observing them we can tell that it is their wings that are injured and keeping them here,” said Munson.
Since the pelicans have been surviving with their existing injuries since 2019, the rangers did not want to traumatize or risk damaging the birds further by trying to catch them and have their injuries examined more thoroughly. The decision to allow them to remain in the spillway was made by the park rangers, the previous site leader and through conversations the rangers had with LDWF field agents. Munson mentioned that these two birds are the only injured wildlife the rangers have kept at the spillway.
“They have survived without human intervention and are capable of short flights of twenty to thirty yards to escape danger,” said Munson. “The pelicans roam from pond to pond and venture into the canals to feed. The banks of the ponds are sloped for maintenance, and this also allows ease of access for the pelicans.”
The Bonnet Carré Spillway, a flood-risk reduction structure located about 12 miles west of New Orleans, La., is designed to allow floodwaters from the Mississippi River to flow into Lake Pontchartrain, and the water eventually empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Whenever the spillway structure is operated during high-water events in the Mississippi River, park rangers monitor the spillway for stranded animals in the water. For example, during one of the spillway openings before 2016, a fawn was rescued and turned over to LDWF.
Also, after structure operations, the USACE park rangers, LDWF, USFWS, and U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center biologists team up to recover pallid sturgeon from the ponds and waterways within the spillway and return them to the Mississippi River after measurements and tagging. Pallid sturgeons are on the endangered species list and would not survive if left in the shallow ponds and waterways of the spillway.
USACE park rangers remain onsite at the spillway throughout the year to help with structure operations and maintenance, assist visitors who are there for recreational purposes, and manage the site’s natural resources… which, occasionally, includes a bit of wildlife rescue.
"It feels awesome to work in a field where I have opportunities to help rescue wildlife that may be in distress. I hope that through continued public outreach we can limit the amount of litter and trash at Bonnet Carré Spillway and reduce the impacts on wildlife and fish species," said Austin LeRay, a USACE natural resources specialist and park ranger at Bonnet Carré Spillway. "It's also great to work with federal, state and local organizations that rehab these injured animals and nurse them back to good health. We wouldn’t be able to do that without them."
| Date Taken: | 07.25.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.25.2024 13:22 |
| Story ID: | 477018 |
| Location: | NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, US |
| Hometown: | NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 146 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Corps of Engineers partners with federal, state organizations for wildlife rescue, by Ryan Labadens, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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