Croatian Dalmatian Pelican Sighted
Posted by: Loren Coleman on March 24th, 2011
The Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus) is a member of the pelican family. It breeds from southeastern Europe to India and China in swamps and shallow lakes. As of 1994, there are around 1,000 breeding pairs in Europe, most of them in Ukraine, Russia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania (Karavasta Lagoon). Thought extinct since the 1950s in Croatia, this specific Croatian event is intriguing.
The Dalmatian Pelican thought to have become extinct in the 1950s in Croatia has been spotted on the mouth of Neretva river, the daily Slobodna Dalmacija writes.
To the great surprise and delight of Croatian ornithologist, the bird was seen at the location after decades of absence due to uncontrolled hunting and fishing activities in the area.
The President of the Croatian Ornithological Society Dragan Radovic hopes that spotting pelicans is not an isolated event.
“We mustn’t forget that the name in English is “Dalmatian Pelican” and that it is famous throughout the world by that name. [The bird] received its name from the Neretva’s now extinct population.”
The Society reminds that the increase in the number of the birds in the area can be credited to police controls that have intensified in the past several years, leading to the punishment of poachers.
They reminded of the fact that the local population could benefit from the safeguarding of the fauna, as birdwatching tourism has grown in popularity over the last decade. March 24, 2011 – Croatian Times
Thanks to Marko Puljic for info.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
