Red Deer Mounties descended on Three Mile Bend Tuesday after reports that someone may have shot at birds in the popular off-leash dog park.

A pelican with a gaping open wound was rescued from the area lagoon, but it died shortly after.

Police and wildlife experts aren’t sure if it was shot at or if it had struck power lines in the area.

Wody Bergquist and her mother Trudy Verhappen were walking a dog when they thought they heard a gunshot around 9 a.m. Hurrying south along the trail adjacent to the Red Deer River, they found the injured American white pelican in the area’s lagoon. It was unable to fly.

The women called RCMP, who dispatched a bike patrol to comb the area for someone with a gun. A police dog unit was on standby, while a number of general duty Mounties walked through the bushes and along the trails.

Other officers questioned motorists leaving Three Mile Bend onto Riverside Drive.

“Because of all the people out here and all the dogs and everything else, we have to treat this as a serious incident and investigate it as such,” said Red Deer RCMP Const. David Davis at the scene.

Davis said they must also consider the possibility it flew into a smaller power line in the bush area.

The pelican had been flying near an osprey nest.

“The (osprey) was chasing it when it got zapped (or shot),” Davis said.

Verhappen said she believes the bird was shot.

“I saw a flame and that caught my eye,” she said. “I heard a bang and I saw a bird fall. The osprey was still squawking.”

Bergquist said she ran down to the river and found the pelican in the water, near the osprey nest.

“I think it was shot. It was upside down in the water,” she said. “I thought it was dead. I pulled it towards shore using a stick and then it lifted its head. I could see it was gashed on the side.”

Medicine River Wildlife Centre officials were called and they then reached Wayne Anderson of Red Deer.

The centre volunteer used a kayak to help police officers catch the bird. He threw a jacket over its head to calm it down.

“I suspect the tear would have been from a tree branch after it came down,” said Anderson, who has tended to farm animals.

A small hole was found beneath the bird’s right wing and extensive damage to the wing and breast muscles. The bird was taken to the Spruce View-area wildlife centre for treatment.

Centre executive director Carol Kelly said they treated the bird for an hour, but it succumbed to its injuries.

“He was ripped open from his armpit to his bottom,” said Kelly. “We couldn’t get him out of shock.”

Kelly said it’s “more likely” the bird had been zapped by a power line, by the way the bird had been sliced.

“We’ve had pelicans run into the power lines as they are crossing the river,” she said. “They’ve broken their wings. So it is a possibility.”

Still, she wouldn’t rule out a gun shot.

Kelly said she’s called RCMP to see if they want an X-ray to see if any pellets were lodged in the bird.

As well, an autopsy could be done to check for internal damage caused from electricity.

Contact Laura Tester at ltester@reddeeradvocate.com