Bizarre Bird Maimings in Huntington Beach: A Vast 'Right Wing' Conspiracy?

Mar 9, 2011 – 7:15 AM
Chris Epting
Contributor

It's a weird, gruesome mystery that has all the local wildlife experts in "Surf City, USA" scratching their heads. In the past three weeks, almost 30 birds have been found in Huntington Beach, Calif., all with an almost identical signature injury: a devastatingly shattered right wing.

Debbie McGuire, wildlife director at the well-respected and well-known Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, where the birds have been brought when found by the public, says she's never seen anything quite like it.

"It almost seems ritualistic, even cultish," she told AOL News. "In just about every case the right wing has been brutally broken and all but one of the birds has had to be euthanized. We have no idea what's going on.

"If it's occurring at sea, there could be many more that die before they get to shore. Still, we've seen many sea gulls, a pelican, a cormorant, a crow -- it's bizarre. All being left for dead after having their right wing broken. This is the work of a monster."



Greg Hickman, the center's director, agrees that it's one of the strangest, most disturbing things he's ever seen.

"It's as much a sickening mystery to us as it is to everyone else," he told AOL News. "Nearly identical compound fractures of the right wing. So severely injured, there's almost nothing we can do for them. None of this makes sense. They're not net injuries that you might see from a fishing boat. This is a blunt and twisting force that seems very deliberate. Horrible, strange crimes like we've never seen before."

And true crimes they are. Seagulls are protected by both state and federal laws. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, people who injure them can face a maximum of six months in jail or a $15,000 fine.

Hickman added that the local Fish and Game Department and all other relevant agencies were notified but have not been able to figure out how the deadly damages are being inflicted or by whom. The luckiest break would be for a witness to capture one of the attacks as it happens, photographically.

Kelly Beavers, a wildlife technician at the center, was the first to recognize a pattern. After noticing a recurrence in similar right wing injuries, she notified Hickman, her boss.

She told AOL News, "I said to him, 'This is not normal. Something very strange is happening here. This pattern seems to represent a sort of craziness.' "

Describing the severity of the injuries, Beavers added, "The radial, ulna and humerus bones are cleanly and completely torn apart in almost all cases. Ripped wide open, an open wound with shattered, fragmented bone. The birds, when they get brought here, are completely healthy except for these horrific wounds. We have to put them down and it hurts so much more because the birds are otherwise fine, but they just can't be repaired."

She displayed an X-ray of one sea gull that might survive. "The break was not as bad, so we think we can repair it," she said.

All of the euthanized birds, rather than being cremated, which is the usual process, are being kept as evidence. Authorities are considering this a crime spree and if and when the culprit is caught, their bodies will play an important part in the prosecution's case.

With tears in her eyes, Beavers carefully put the bird corpses back in a freezer after allowing them to be photographed. "Whoever is doing this needs to be caught," she said. "This is sinister, cruel and brutal."

Anyone with knowledge of these crimes is encouraged to contact California Department of Fish and Game or e-mail wwccinfo@gmail.com.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/09/bizarre-bird-maimings-in-huntington-beach-a-vast-right-wing-c/