The Mysterious Life and Death of Oscar the Pelican of Heartwell Lake
Imagine, if you will, a pelican so famous that he led the Easter Parade in Hastings in 1938.
Later that same year for the Hastings Recreational Project Parade, area children created a tissue paper and chicken wire float to immortalize his image while the flesh and blood Oscar watched on. By any measure, Oscar was a big deal in central Nebraska.
Oscar the Pelican, who was first identified as male and then later, too late to change his name, was discovered to be a female, was the most popular waterfowl of the time. Decades before Andy the Goose, Oscar ruled the roost. City fathers searched as far as Texas and Montana to give Oscar a lifemate.
There was even great concern for the number of fish Oscar was eating wondering if Heartwell Lake could sustain its favorite food. "'Oscar won't eat liver and kidneys' Schreiner said sadly, I opened his mouth and threw it in, and he just coughed the stuff up again'".
With all of this Hastings fame, how could a cold, blooded pelican murder take place at Heartwell Park? No one knows but Oscar was discovered dead on September of 1939 much to the horror of the entire community. Oscar was shot in the back with a .22 caliber bullet and the murder was never solved.
In 1941, he was replaced with Oscar the II who was obtained by Hastings Mayor Harms from the J.O. Jenson farm near Clay Center. The new pelican had a broken wing and needed better care than he was receiving. It was a perfect fit for Heartwell Lake. Oscar I is dead! Long live Oscar II.
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