Two brown pelicans that slipped out of their Pittsburgh Zoo habitat were captured and returned unharmed Saturday after a multi-agency search along the Allegheny River.
Zoo staff tracked down the birds the same day and brought them back healthy, with no injuries reported. A zoo spokesperson said Saturday morning that Joey and Felicity had gotten "outside of their habitat," though it was not immediately clear how the pair left their enclosure.
CBS News reported that Joey was rescued from the Allegheny River near Sharpsburg. Felicity's capture location was not immediately clear. By Saturday evening, both birds were back at the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium.
The zoo set up a public tip line at 412-365-2528 as the search unfolded. More than a dozen callers helped point teams toward the birds.
Recovery did not rest on zoo staff alone. Pittsburgh River Rescue and Three Rivers Waterkeeper provided boats. The Army Corps of Engineers and the National Aviary also lent support while two zoo teams kept constant watch until the pelicans could be approached safely.
The zoo spokesperson described the operation this way:
"Using boats provided by Pittsburgh River Rescue and Three Rivers Waterkeeper, as well as support from the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Aviary, and over a dozen calls from members of the public, two Zoo teams constantly monitored both birds until they could be safely approached and recovered."
Public help mattered. The same spokesperson put it plainly:
"Public support was vital to the recovery effort,"
And after the birds were secure, the tone shifted to relief:
"Zoo staff are overjoyed and relieved that the birds are healthy, and deeply grateful for the community's support during this event,"
Joey and Felicity are scoop-beaked brown pelicans. In July 2025, the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium welcomed them from the Seacoast Seabird Sanctuary in Florida, along with a third male pelican named Pierre. The three shared habitat space with South American Humboldt penguins.
The zoo has said the pelicans carry permanent wing injuries and cannot hunt on their own. That detail made a free-ranging escape more than a simple inconvenience. It raised the stakes for a fast, careful recovery.
Pierre was not described as leaving the grounds. The focus stayed on Joey and Felicity from the first morning update through the evening return.
What remains unsettled is the breach itself. Staff confirmed the birds got out. They have not said how the habitat failed or what changes, if any, will follow. For now the public record ends with two healthy birds back behind the fence and a long list of outside partners who answered the call.
When an enclosure fails, neighbors, boat crews, and tip-line callers still show up. That civic reflex is the part of this story that worked.
