Group Vows to Break Law to Save Birds

Local animal rights activists, who want to make pets of maimed sea gulls and coots from the River Ridge Golf Course in Oxnard, are tangling with bird experts who say the birds should be rehabilitated or put to sleep.

Members of Concerned People for Animals have promised to maintain a 24-hour surveillance of the course to prevent the experts from capturing the birds. The activists will break the law to acquire the birds if necessary, said Yvonne Miles, president of the nonprofit group.

The Santa Barbara Wildlife Care Network, which is licensed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has agreed to rehabilitate the birds. But they are required to euthanize the birds if their injuries are too severe, said Jerry Thompson, a licensed raptor specialist in Simi Valley. Thompson requested that the Santa Barbara group assist the activists because they specialize in sea fowl.

But Miles does not want the experts near the birds if they might kill them.

“A one-legged bird can do very well if it’s safe,” she said. “It can have a good quality of life.”

The golf course was built on a former waste dump, and hundreds of birds still flock to the site. Earlier this year, the city placed fishing line around the course’s ponds to discourage the birds, and several flew into the lines and were killed or injured.

The Fish and Wildlife Service threatened the city with fines, and officials agreed to replace the fishing line with more visible barriers.

However, in the meantime at least six birds have been injured, Miles said.

Although the manager of the golf course said she initially had no qualms about allowing the activists to capture the animals, she became alarmed when Miles indicated they might not release the birds to the licensed professionals.

“Both groups are interested in the care of animals, but one has probably the professional experience over the concern and is working within the total guidelines of the law,” said manager Rebecca Buckalew.

A worker with the wildlife organization captured one bird Friday evening, and Buckalew said it was the only injured bird on the property.

Law prohibits housing wild birds without a license because it jeopardizes their safety and might send diseases back into the wild, Thompson said. Confining wild birds also risks their health and endangers people in the home.

“Sea gulls are biters. Coots are biters,” Thompson said.

And if the animal rights activists are not familiar with the diets of the birds, “they’re going to kill them quicker” than the injured birds would die on their own, he said.