A woman from a small Caribbean island helped raise a baby flamingo who, after a while, disappeared. Many months later, the wild bird flew back, ran right up to her rescuer, and snuggled her in a sweet reunion.
Animal lover Elly Albers, 54, runs an eco-tourism business in Bonaire.
Elly Albers with Baby, the flamingo. (Courtesy of Elly Albers)
In 2017, an oil spill in Trinidad and Tobago (the southernmost island country in the Caribbean) wrought havoc in surrounding waters. Authorities from National Park Foundation appealed to Albers for assistance in caring for affected birds so she began to help with cleaning and washing them. A year later, some locals arrived with a tiny flamingo, and Albers—who wasn’t even an official bird rehabilitator at the time—was suddenly faced with the challenge of rearing the orphaned bird….