His Bad Judgment Was Costly

‘Monday Night Football” will never be the same for Alan Rondi, nor will any night be the same for the bird he blasted out of a backyard palm tree.

Rondi, 42, a truck driver from Dublin, Calif., was trying to enjoy a football game on TV, but a barn owl roosted in the tree was rooting for the other team, rather loudly at that.

Rondi loaded his slingshot with a pellet-cluster and scored a direct hit, dropping the unsuspecting bird of prey and prompting a quick whistle by his neighbor, who called police.

The truck driver was brought before a judge in Pleasanton, pleaded guilty to one count of cruelty to animals and to a wildlife code violation involving his weapon, and ordered to pay $10,000, or about half of what the NFL recently fined New Orleans Saint Coach Mike Ditka for flipping the bird to Superdome fans.

Rondi, who also was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service at a local animal shelter, complained that the financial hit would cause extreme hardship for him and his wife.

But he was promptly reminded that his unsportsmanlike conduct could have resulted in a much steeper fine, and he was asked to consider the plight of the owl: minus one eye, deaf in one ear and permanently confined to a care facility--that is, if it survives.

The full-grown barn owl, one of about a dozen known to hunt nocturnally in the neighborhood, is being treated at the hospital unit of Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. One pellet pierced its right eye and ear drum, doing the most damage.

“Another pellet is embedded in the base of its skull, and we’re going to try to remove it when the bird is stable,” said Sherrill Cook, spokeswoman for the facility.

The bird is a fighter, Cook said. It rose to its haunches this week for the first time since lying on its apparent death bed for four days after the incident. “Birds just don’t lay down,” Cook said. “It came here in very poor shape.”

The owl remains wobbly, though, in part because its equilibrium was knocked off-kilter by the loss of an eye and damage to its hearing.

If it does survive and takes to life in captivity--and that’s a big if because adult critters do not easily adapt and sometimes have to be destroyed--it’ll have a home at the museum, along with numerous other animals that have to be cared for.

Rondi, who has an unlisted number and has kept a low profile for obvious reasons, has expressed some regret. He was quoted in the Contra Costa Times by a courtroom reporter as saying, “I’m sorry I did it. I have no excuse and it was a stupid thing to do.”

He also announced, in a letter to the court, that he’d once tried to save a baby owl that fell out of the same tree.

But then he fumbled in his attempt to sway public opinion in his favor by remarking: “I know they’re owls, but there ought to be something legal you can do about [the noise they make]. There’s laws out there that give animals more rights than people.”

Said Rondi’s whistle-blowing neighbor, “I think if I were [Rondi], I’d walk around with a bucket over my head and be afraid to show my face.”

FOWL WEATHER FRIEND

Duck hunters were literally in a fog in some places on opening day last Saturday, which limited their success. Nowhere was this more apparent than at San Jacinto Wildlife Area in Lakeview.

“It was a really low fog and it never really burned off,” said Tom Paulek, manager of the state facility. “The birds were right over the hunters before they could [get them in their sights].”

Ninety-two hunters shot only 167 birds, mostly cinnamon and greenwing teal, a paltry 1.83 average compared to four-plus last year.

At nearby Lake Perris State Recreational Area, the fog wasn’t as bad and 17 boat hunters posted a 3.05 average, downing mostly mallards.

At the Wister Unit of the Imperial Wildlife Area in Niland, hunters fared better, averaging 4.21 birds.

SCREAMIN’ REELS

* Chuck Ballensky of Ventura caught a 597-pound blue marlin off Cabo San Lucas on Wednesday afternoon and later proclaimed, “I think I just retired.” His fish was the biggest on Day 1 of the three-day Bisbee’s Black & Blue marlin tournament and earned team Big T’s $286,500. A record 239 teams are competing for more than $2.3 million in the world’s richest billfish tournament. Updates are available on the Internet at www.worldbillfishseries.com.

* Anglers out of Oceanside struck gold in the form of 20-pound dorado this week beneath floating kelp paddies as close as 10 miles from the harbor. Passengers on the Sea Trek out of Helgren’s Sportfishing put 21 of the colorful acrobats on the deck Wednesday and a six-pack charter added seven to the count. Both were paddy-hopping again Thursday. The lack of westerly winds and subsequent warming of surface temperatures apparently have given the game fish an avenue north.

* Things have finally heated up at Catalina, where on Wednesday 24 anglers on the Thunderbird out of Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach filled their sacks with 124 yellowtail, averaging 15-18 pounds.

WINDING UP

A memorial for Doris Allen, the first female speaker of the California Assembly who died last month at 63 of cancer, will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the Crystal Cathedral, 12141 Lewis St., Garden Grove.

Allen, who represented Cypress, was the driving force behind the movement to eliminate gill-nets in California. The United Anglers of Southern California will make a presentation to her family in honor of her legislative efforts toward better fisheries management. A reception will follow.