As told by Dr. Frank Catchpool:

As I was going down to the pharmacy one day, I saw Dr. Schweitzer's pelican struggling in for a landing. He made three attempts to land and I saw something was wrong with the undercarriage, because one hand was hanging down. I watched it carefully and it tried again, again and again… these birds with a five foot wing span, they fly so beautifully. Finally it made a clumsy crash-landing and came to a halt and I sent a message with Ali and said: "Tell Dr. Schweitzer that his pelican has a broken leg." An hour or so later Dr. Schweitzer came to the pharmacy and he said, "Do you have a moment? I would like you to come and consult with me about my pelican." I said, "Sofort, Doctor, I come” He said, "No . . your patients first!"

This was important to me and I was glad he said that. He had very clearly established the priorities of medical treatment: humans first, the worst cases first, and his own pelican, which he loved very much, was not to be put ahead of even the most minor human case. After lunch we went and looked at the pelican. Its leg did not seem to be broken but it was paralyzed in some peculiar manner, but we couldn't see anything else wrong with it. Then I noticed a couple of specks of blood on its feathers and I said, "Well, could it possibly have been shot at? As it flies around it is such an easy target for someone with a shotgun." So, I said, "May I take an X-ray?" He said, "Well, X-rays are precious and hard to come by… if you like to. I'd like to know what's wrong with my pelican, too."

This is another point I'd like to bring out. We had all things we needed in X-ray for making accurate diagnosis. On this picture you can see some of the pellets are flattened out against the bone, indicating the shot had considerable velocity. Also, from the nature of the spots it was pretty certain that the intestines of the pelican had been perforated in numerous places. I said: "Dr. Schweitzer, this pelican is going to die. I can't do anything for it, unless you like me to open it up and we can sew up all these multiple lesions that he's got." He said, "Are you crazy?" He said, "No, leave this pelican alone. I don't want you to waste your time. I don't want you to waste the materials of the hospital on this. I'll look after my pelican."

So, he put his pelican outside his window. After four or five days went past and the pelican wasn't eating… he tried forcing it to eat himself, he went to me one day at lunchtime and said, "Do you have another minute... will you come and look at my pelican?" I said, "Yes, it's dehydrating, it's not taking any fluids, it will surely die." Dr. Schweitzer said, "If he's not better tomorrow I'll chop his head off." This, again, to me is important to show that this man would not let his sentiment overrule his reason. He knew that this animal was doomed, he couldn't save it. He knew he was troubled by this animal's suffering. So, he brutally said, "I will knock its head off.”

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