Pelicans drunk and disorderly

LOS ANGELES - Four pelicans suspected of being drunk on sea algae were being tested at a Southern California wildlife centre yesterday after one of them crashed into a car.

Three of the california brown pelicans were found wandering dazed in the streets of Laguna Beach after another pelican hit a car windshield.

It suffered internal injuries and a long gash in its pouch and was undergoing toxicology tests.

Officials at the Wildlife Care Centre said the seabirds might have been under the influence of algae in the ocean that can produce domoic acid poisoning when eaten.

Domoic acid was thought to be the culprit behind a 1961 attack of seabirds on people in the California town of Capitola that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's horror movie The Birds.

- REUTERS