Davey Tree Flipbooks

March/April 2014 | 11 T heir large, hollow beaks and strong, wide wings illustrate the graceful demeanor pelicans most often portray. Now, imagine one's ability to hang from the tall, flimsy branches of a tree for four hours— upside down. What appeared to be an impressive acrobatic act from the ground turned out to be a life-threatening situation for one particular pelican. Fortunately, Davey's tree climbing skills and equipment were available to rescue it from the tree. On the day after Christmas, Davey's Naples R/C office received a rather unusual call. The Conservancy of Southwest Florida, a nonprofit organization, had received an alert about a brown pelican entangled in fishing line treble hooks and hanging from a tree along the beach. It was the second call rescuers received about a pelican stuck in a tree in one week. Firefighters arrived early in the morning with a 35-foot ladder about an hour after the pelican sighting had been reported, but the ladder was too short to reach the pelican. Dan Powell, district manager of Davey's Naples R/C office, coordinated Davey's potential involvement with the rescue, alongside Sales Arborist Thomas "Mike" Breneman, and then assigned his crewmembers to the task. "It was most important for us to make a decision about whether we could help and then commit," Powell says. He and his crewmembers arrived on site a little more than an hour after they agreed to helping out. Powell first arranged a safety briefing with the crew, including Foreman Marcos Camacho and S&S Technician Richard Wiland. "I wanted to have a game plan in place before ascending the tree," Powell explains. The pelican was dangling approximately 65 feet in the air from the weak, outermost branches of a large Australian pine tree located at the end of the boardwalk on Seagate Drive. Its wings were wrapped in fishing line in a "weird, unusual way," according to Powell. "It couldn't move," he says. Considering the tree's three leaders and the location of the pelican, Powell and his crewmembers determined the quickest and safest method to rescue the pelican was to have the climber spike the tree. "Australian pines are considered to be exotic trees in Florida and have bark like cement," Powell explains. Powell stood along the beach to help direct the climber's moves, but communicating with the others was difficult because of the thick vegetation existing along the ground— crewmembers had difficultly seeing each other. When the climber reached a 15-foot distance from the pelican, he tied a rope to the 4-inch wide limb from where it was dangling and began detaching it with a handsaw. "We used a handsaw to minimize the stress to the bird and reduce the shock load after the cut was completed," Powell says. After the crewmembers cut the limb, they lowered the pelican to the ground. They guided the pelican along the walkway to the beach where 12-year Conservancy volunteer Tim Thompson secured it in a box. The entire process took less than an hour to complete, yet Powell says it seemed so long for fear of the pelican's life. "A crowd was standing along the beach watching the rescue," he says. "They clapped once we lowered the pelican to the ground." The Davey crewmembers helped lower the pelican to safety by noon, when rescuers transported it to the Conservancy's animal hospital. While the pelican was considered to be in critical condition, Thompson expected it to live. He estimated it would take one or two months for it to recover. Turning the World Right Side Up A brown pelican hangs from a large Australian pine tree. After firefighters attempted to rescue the pelican with a 35-foot ladder, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida reached out to Davey for assistance. The brown pelican rests in a card- board box after Davey crewmembers rescued it from a tree. It had dangled 65 feet in the air for four hours, upside down.

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