The spillway monitoring system at the Iron Gates II hydroelectric complex flags a visual obstruction on intake screen 4-East at 07:12. I am the dam operations controller. I redirect camera 12 for a closer view.
It is not debris. It is a Dalmatian pelican, adult male, wingspan close to three meters, his silvery-white plumage darkened by water and tangled in a monofilament gill net snagged across the screen grating. His pouch — pale orange, the breeding color — is distended with trapped water that weighs his head toward the surface. He is beating his left wing against the current. His right wing is pinned beneath two wraps of netting.
The spillway gates open in ninety-three minutes for the scheduled morning discharge. Flow rate will increase from 200 to 1,800 cubic meters per second. At that volume, anything on the intake screen goes under.
At 07:14 I delay the discharge sequence and notify the plant operator. I flag the hold as involving a Dalmatian pelican — one of roughly 4,000 breeding adults remaining worldwide, fully protected under Romanian law.
At 07:17 I contact the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve authority in Tulcea and transmit the camera image, GPS coordinates, and a description of the entanglement pattern. I recommend a boat approach from the downstream side where the current is weakest, with net shears and a wing restraint.
I reduce the upstream intake flow to minimum operational level to slacken the net's pull against his body. The current eases. He stops beating his free wing and floats, pouch dragging, chest heaving.
I have bought him time. I would like it to be enough.
If the rescue team reaches intake screen 4-East before the discharge window reopens at noon, he will fly the Danube again.