Ending one of the longest investigations ever conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game, three men were charged Thursday with animal cruelty in connection with the deaths last summer of hundreds of newly hatched seabirds in the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.
Long Beach city prosecutor Tom Reeves said seven misdemeanor counts each were filed in Long Beach Superior Court against San Diego-based Point Loma Maritime Services Inc.; Ralph Botticelli, 39, of San Diego; Alan Schlange, 38, of Costa Mesa; and Scott Camren Caslin, 32, of San Diego.
The charges concern their alleged roles in the case that began last June 29, when a Long Beach lifeguard discovered the carcasses of fledgling terns washing ashore. Among them were 27 survivors -- battered and bruised and in shock -- that were transported to the International Bird Rescue Research Center in San Pedro. Two days later, more tern bodies washed up in the same area.
The defendants are all facing three counts of unlawfully removing or killing migratory non-game birds, one count of unlawful destruction of nests, one count of harassment of non-game birds and two counts of animal cruelty.
"The evidence suggests they are responsible for the deaths of more than 400 terns," Reeves said during a news conference at Long Beach City Hall. "We essentially lost a generation of that species for that year.
"But when we use the words 'animal cruelty' in this case," he added, "we're not necessarily talking about an action conducted in an evil manner."
In a telephone interview, Botticelli said, "No one did anything on purpose or maliciously.
"All they're doing is spinning out a lot of negative energy on a waste of time and money," he added. "I'm really bummed out about what happened to those birds. Nobody wanted them to die. Terns are the coolest birds in the world."
State wildlife investigators believe that Botticelli, his tugboat captain and a deckhand were attempting to move two privately owned barges from the port complex to Santa Barbara for a fireworks display when more than 400 fledgling Caspian and elegant terns -- delicate, skittish and slim birds related to gulls -- stampeded off the sides.
"The lesson here," said Garry George of the Audubon Society's Los Angeles chapter, "is that migratory birds are protected, along with their nests. No one can perpetrate attacks on wildlife simply because they are in your way."
