ID request

I was emailed this picture of a bird by friend from my home country. The Bird was shot with a gun and badly injured, he tried what ever he could to secure it from the men but to no avail.

Could some one tell me what bird it is, to me it looks like a crane or a pelican.


Many thanks in advance

I couldn't ID it but that is a disgrace.What's the worst the bird could be doing, catching fish to survive?
A pity the poor bird hadn't turned and bitten the gunman.

It is indeed a disgrace. I had no idea we had birds like these back home. Our greater flamingo numbers have dropped from 300-12000 to mere under 200 individuals.

It's a white pelican, they hurt no one....why in the world would someone shoot one of these. Were they having a boring day and had nothing better to do? I agree with Mark.....absolutely disgraceful.

Shar thanks for the ID.

What country was this photo made in?

Northern Afghanistan.

Sickening disrespect for a beautiful animal. At least the man tried to help.

It's probably a Dalmatian Pelican which is considered a vulnerable species and is in decline.

Mike, I had never heard of a Dalmatian Pelican, so I looked up images of them on Google. They're beautiful birds, and very endangered......it takes a really sick person to do something like this. As long as I live I will never, ever understand someones reasoning (if they even have any) for destroying these birds.

I just asked the guy to find out where the bird was shot and whether it was part of a colony/flock or just a solitary bird. The wild life conservation for Afghanistan has not listed the bird on thier website or any of theri reports so I am curious as to how exactly this Bird ended up in Afghanistan.