In January 2023, the Interregional Department of Rosprirodnadzor for the Astrakhan and Volgograd regions received information from local fishermen that they had found a rare bird on the Kizan River in the Astrakhan region.
The feathered pelican turned out to be a curly-haired pelican, which was frozen for two days and had no opportunity to get food and take off. This species is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and the Astrakhan region.
The pelican was found near the settlement, so there was a real threat of an attack on the bird by dogs. The department's specialists removed the pelican from its natural habitat and moved it to the Baba Frosya Family Recreation Center for overexposure and medical examination. In the zoo, the bird was provided with comfortable conditions – the pelican lived in a special enclosure, he was fed fresh fish, given vitamins.
The curly pelican is a large bird, its length from the tip of its beak to the tail can reach 180 cm, and its weight ranges from 9 to 14 kg, so it was not easy to take care of such a "guest", but the employees of Baba Frosi coped. They were ready to keep the feathered one and prepared a special pond for him. The pelican was even given a name - "Curly".
Three months later, ornithologists of the Astrakhan State Natural Biosphere Reserve and specialists of the Astrakhan Veterinary Station conducted a second inspection of the feathered bird and concluded: "The bird is healthy, it can be released."
So, on March 23, 2023, on the basis of the permission of the Federal Service for Supervision of Nature Management, under the supervision of employees of the Interregional Department of Rosprirodnadzor and ornithologists of the Astrakhan Reserve "Kudryash" was released into the wild, near the protection zone of the Astrakhan Reserve near the reservoir.
