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Over 400 fledgling terns found dead
San Pedro, CA (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2006
County: Los Angeles
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged:
» Ralph Boticelli, III
» Alan Schlange
» Scott Caslin
The owner of a maritime services company and two employees were charged with seven misdemeanors stemming from the deaths of more than 400 fledgling terns that washed ashore last summer in Long Beach Harbor, the Long Beach city prosecutor announced Thursday.
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Ralph Boticelli III, 39, who owns San Diego-based Point Loma Maritime Services, and employees Alan Schlange, 38, of Costa Mesa, and Scott Caslin, 32, of San Diego, are accused of illegally removing, harassing and causing the deaths of more than 400 terns in June 2006.
The charges include unlawfully taking and/or possessing non-game migratory birds, needlessly destroying the nest and/or eggs of a bird; unlawfully harassing non-game birds, causing a disruption in the animal's normal behavior pattern; willfully and unlawfully torturing, tormenting and depriving of necessary sustenance, drink and shelter, or cruelly killing an animal; and maliciously and intentionally torturing or killing a living animal.
City prosecutor Tom Reeves alleges the defendants "disturbed the nest or harassed the birds while they were nesting and those actions over a period of time ... three days ... caused these birds to flee from the threat and the birds could not fly and could only swim limitedly."
The company, which did not own the two barges moored at Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex where the birds were housed, allegedly moved the vessels for commercial purposes.
All the dead birds were babies "in the sense that they weren't flying yet," Reeves said.
"The alleged actions of the defendants contributed to the deaths of more than 400 birds," he said, adding, "the charges reflect the significant impact these acts had on a vulnerable species."
Officials with Point Loma Maritime Services could not be reached for comment on the charges.
Earlier in April 2007, however, Boticelli told the boating and fishing newspaper The Log that the birds' deaths were accidental.
"My crew members and myself all come from fishing backgrounds," he told the paper. "There is no way that we would maliciously hurt these birds."
The elegant terns, a type of seabird, dwell in only five locations around the world, and the Long Beach area is one of the largest, said Noel Hacegaba of the City Prosecutor's Office.
The birds likely sought out the barges as shelter because "most species require flat, almost bare nesting sites ... that don't have humans on it," where they will be "free from other predators" and have access to a food supply of fish, said Lyann Comrack, a biologist with the Department of Fish and Game. She said the barges probably had been undisturbed during the nesting season.
"With this incident, we actually lost an entire generation of terns and that's why this is such a significant case," said Hacegaba.
The company has been alerted to the charges, and the defendants are expected to be arraigned May 30, Hacegaba said.
He had no information on the possible sentences the defendants could face.
Ryan Broddrick, director of the California Department of Fish and Game, joined Reeves at a news conference to announce the charges, which were filed yesterday.
"In bringing charges against responsible parties, the city of Long Beach underscores its understanding of the devastating impact of wildlife crimes and an appreciation for the excellent and complicated investigation undertaken by Fish and Game wardens and biologists who protect our state's natural resources," Broddrick said.
The investigation, described as "one of the most intense, complicated and widespread that Fish and Game has ever undertaken," began June 29, after officials were notified that dead birds were turning up on Belmont Pier in Long Beach, said Steve Martarano with Fish and Game.
The International Bird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in San Pedro responded and recovered more than 100 dead terns and a dozen live ones. Hundreds more continued to wash ashore. A necropsy revealed that the terns died of "partial drowning, among other things," Martarano said. References |
