Chula Vista Nature Center Chief Admits Shooting 2 Doves, Rabbits

The director of Chula Vista’s nature center admitted Wednesday that he shot and killed two doves in the center’s gallery, and that seven rabbits on the center’s grounds were “collected” using the same BB gun.

Dr. Stephen Neudecker of the Chula Vista Nature Interpretive Center said at a press conference that he used the BB gun, purchased with city funds in 1987, to shoot and kill mourning doves that on two separate occasions had flown into the center’s gallery and could not be removed.

Reading from a prepared statement, Neudecker said the gun was purchased in the fall of 1987, “two days after a mourning dove flew into the center and perched on the high rafters of the galleria.”

“Its droppings were threatening our aquaria animals and damaging our exhibits,” Neudecker said.

In June, 1988, another mourning dove entered the center’s showroom and was killed, Neudecker said.

Mourning doves are protected by the Migratory Bird and Treaty Act.

“It is illegal to take or shoot any migratory bird,” said Diane Petrula, special agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s law enforcement division. “The act applies anywhere in the United States and applies to everyone.”

Shooting protected birds is a misdemeanor under federal law and carries a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment and a $500 fine.

Neudecker, the center’s executive director, came under fire two weeks ago when a letter signed by two former employees of the center alleged that he had shot at animals both in the center and in the Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, which contains the center. The letter, which Neudecker provided Wednesday, charges him with using the compound as “his own private shooting gallery.”

In a prepared statement, Neudecker said he now understands that “this was inappropriate,” calling the incidents “an error in judgment,” and he apologized for any embarrassment that he may have caused the center. In the future, when a bird becomes trapped in the center, Neudecker said, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be called to remove it.

Neudecker, however, denied allegations made in the letter that he shot at animals from his office window or in the Sweetwater Marsh refuge.

Neudecker also denied charges that he had used a rifle to rid the marsh of squirrels and wild cats. He said that he keeps a .22-caliber rifle in his office, but that it has not been fired. The rifle was to be used to dispose of wild cats if they became trapped on the compound, Neudecker said.

The center is in the Sweetwater Marsh Wildlife Refuge and is part of the 316-acre wildlife preserve, all of which is federal property regulated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The city has a fenced easement of 3.4 acres constituting the center.

“Technically, what he did is not much different than if he had done it out in the marsh,” Assistant City Manager Gene Asmus said.

Neudecker, who refused to answer questions after reading his three-page statement, also admitted to having “collected” about seven rabbits in “an attempt to protect the native vegetation and to feed our captive birds.”

Neudecker said the rabbits were used to feed the center’s three captive birds, a red-tailed hawk, a kestrel (European falcon) and a burrowing owl.

Neudecker said only one rabbit was shot after the Sweetwater Marsh refuge was established in August, 1988, and that “it is a common practice of game management in national and state parks and on refuges to control populations . . . and to cull herds of herbivores which grow abnormally large and threaten the existence of vegetation.”

But Asmus said shooting the rabbits was “poor judgment” on Neudecker’s part because, “He could have shot them 24 hours a day for a year and never gotten rid of them.”

“Hunting is not allowed on the refuges we have here in San Diego County in general, regardless of who is involved,” said Marc Weitzel of U.S. Fish and Wildlife. “The rabbits are part of the ecosystem out there. They are a natural resource.”

Asmus said that the city’s investigation into the allegations could be complete by the end of this week. The Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting a separate investigation.

Neudecker reports to City Manager John Goss, who will take any disciplinary action deemed necessary. Asmus said the possible discipline, which could range from a verbal reprimand to dismissal, will not be decided until the Bayfront Conservancy Trust, overseers of the center’s operations, meets April 24.