[CINC] From SB News Press: Reward offered in pelican abuse

[Carol C.]

Reward offered in pelican abuse : Birds have been 'hooked' before being tossed back into the ocean
ANGEL PACHECO, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER 
 September 15, 2009 7:28 AM
 
After a string of cases of animal abuse
against seabirds, the nonprofit Animal Rescue Team is offering $1,000
for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or
group responsible.

Among
the alleged atrocities is the removal of the upper beak from a young
pelican that was located near the launching ramp at the Santa Barbara
Waterfront, according to Betsy Cramer, a seabird volunteer and member
of the Santa Barbara Harbor Commission. A Santa Barbara Wildlife Care
Network volunteer picked up the bird from the Harbor Patrol on Sunday,
and although CARE Hospital personnel hoped it could be fitted with an
artificial bill, the pelican had to be euthanized. 
"Mutilating any animal needs to be punished
to the fullest extent of the law," Animal Rescue Team executive
director Julia Di Sieno told the News-Press. She is also hoping others
will step up to match Animal Rescue Team's reward to help bring in and
convict the culprits.

Just the day before the pelican was picked
up from Harbor Patrol, the Wildlife Care Network bird pond received a
pelican with a badly torn pouch, which may have been from "natural
causes" by a fishhook, Ms. Cramer wrote in an e-mail to the News-Press.

June Taylor, a Wildlife Care Network
volunteer who operates a bird sanctuary on her property, noted it was
"among the worst such injuries I've seen." The injury could not be
treated locally so the animal was sent to the International Bird Rescue
Research Center in San Pedro. 

Most recently, Ms. Taylor received a report
of cruelty on a sports fishing boat out of Channel Islands Harbor
Monday morning in which a pelican was allegedly hooked on its beak and
thrown back into the water without the instrument being removed, Ms.
Cramer said. Two cormorants were also reportedly hooked, smashed with
pliers and killed, and the state Department of Fish & Game has been
notified. 


A couple of weeks ago, another pelican was
discovered near More Mesa suffering from injuries that were likely
human caused, and the bird had to be euthanized, Ms. Cramer said. 
She noted that all seabirds are protected by state and federal laws.

Ms. Di Sieno is also encouraging residents
to report any acts of wildlife cruelty to the Santa Ynez-based Animal
Rescue Team, which always offers a reward for information that leads to
the arrest and conviction of offenders. The organization can be reached
at 896-1859 -- everything can be kept confidential -- and for more
information, log onto www.animalrescueteam.net. 


      
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