We’re back today with another heart-warming rescue and release story!!

Our team recently helped a beautiful Great White Pelican get back to the wild after it was rescued by our partners at NEPA, from a local hunter in Takhar. In Afghanistan, bird hunting is an ancient and deeply rooted tradition that has persisted for centuries, even through decades of conflict and instability.

Thankfully, the pelican was rescued in time by NEPA and brought safely to the Nowzad Animal Hospital, where it received the enormous amount of care needed to get back on its feet. Once our vet team gave the green light, we took this magnificent bird to its natural environment in Bamiyan for release.

Great White Pelicans are truly impressive creatures, known for their massive wingspans and distinctive throat pouches used for fishing. In Afghanistan, they are migratory visitors, often spotted near large wetlands and lakes along their journey. Bamiyan, with its high-altitude lakes and beautiful, rugged landscape – a place Pen visited many times during is time in Afghanistan - provided the perfect setting for this pelican to rejoin its flock.

Seeing a bird like this return to the wild is exactly why we do what we do. Organisations like Nowzad and NEPA work to bridge the conservation and welfare gap a little by rescuing these birds, providing veterinary care, and — crucially — engaging with local communities to transform the perception of these animals from "competitors" or "game" into protected wildlife that is worth more to the community alive than trapped.

Thank you for standing with us throughout out work in Afghanistan!

If you’d like to donate to this, or any part of our work for other wildlife, homeless or stray animals, livestock or working equines, please go to: https://www.nowzad.com/support-us