Of five gulls found shot, only one survives

A wounded sea gull clung to life Wednesday at a San Pedro bird rescue center, the sole survivor among five gulls found last week in Manhattan Beach after being shot by an unknown assailant.

The bird suffered a broken bone in one wing, where X-rays found two pellets, apparently from a shotgun or BB gun, said Cyndie Kam of the International Bird Rescue and Research Center, where the bird is being treated.

The five, all with wing injuries, were brought to the center between Nov. 13 and Nov. 15. All were found in a four-mile area along Santa Monica Bay. Four were so severely injured that they were euthanized.

“They all arrived alive, but several of them had shattered wings, and if they’re too far gone, we have to euthanize them,” Kam said.

This is a busy time at the rescue center, which is also nursing 40 shorebirds injured by an unknown substance in the waters off Santa Cruz.

Rescue workers drove those birds all the way to San Pedro, because the center’s Northern California facility has been overwhelmed treating injured birds from the San Francisco Bay oil spill. Hundreds of shorebirds have died in the spill, and untold others have been injured.

The five gulls found with pellet wounds in the South Bay last week were all western gulls, or Larus occidentalis, the most common native gull in the Los Angeles area. They typically are 15 inches long, with wide wingspans.

Wildlife experts have removed the two pellets from the surviving bird’s wounded wing, which will remain wrapped for two to three weeks. The gull is being treated with antibiotics in pill form and a combination liquid pain reducer and anti-inflammatory drug, Kam said. It will take weeks to learn if the wing will recover sufficiently so the bird can fly.

Manhattan Beach officials said Wednesday that they have not found any birds since last week and that the incidents may not have taken place in their city.

“It may have occurred out at sea, somewhere else, some other city, and this is where they landed up,” said Police Lt. Andy Harrod.

The Humane Society of the United States announced Monday that it is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the gulls’ shootings.

The society’s West Coast regional coordinator, Paul Bruce, said such shootings are not uncommon.

“Sometimes it’s kids, sometimes fishermen,” Bruce said Wednesday. “You have kids that are just bored.”

He added, “We feel bad about it, but we also feel that kids who think this is OK need to be looked at, because sometimes not having empathy for animals may lead to not having empathy for people later in life.”

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the California Department of Fish and Game at (888) 334-2258 or Julie King at the International Bird Rescue and Research Center, (310) 514-2573.

deborah.schoch@latimes.com