Pancho the pelican
The wayward seabird has become the toast of 23rd Street, a bustling Havana thoroughfare where Pancho waddles down the sidewalk.
The bird was brought to Guerrero's home in 2011 when a neighbor fishing along Havana's Malecon seawall found Pancho near death, practically featherless and without any appetite.
A veterinarian prescribed a regimen of medicine and curative creams, and Guerrero nursed him through what seemed an unlikely recovery.
After nursing Pancho to health, Guerrero repeatedly tried to reintroduce the pelican into the wild down at the Malecon, but he ignored other pelicans flying past. When she went to leave, he simply followed her on foot back to 23rd Street.
Pancho behaves as if he's just another member of the household. He sleeps in a bucket and gets daily hose-baths in the patio. Sometimes he flaps up to the roof to bask in the sun.
Guerrero and de Leon's home is a veritable menagerie of animals that they say coexist peacefully despite including both predators and potential prey: three dogs and a cat, a hawk, another bird of prey called a kestrel, a parrot, three turtles and a goose.
"When I saw him, it was love at first sight," said Guerrero, Pancho's 32-year-old adopted "mom," of whom he's fiercely protective.
Pancho's adopted "mom," Magela Guerrero, said Pancho frequently accompanies her on walks and responds when she calls his name, even obeying commands to jump up on park benches.
The bird came into her family's life in 2011 when a neighbor fishing along Havana's Malecon seawall found Pancho near death, practically featherless and without any appetite. Knowing that Guerrero takes in animals, the neighbor brought the pelican to her door.