Incident raises awareness of homeless issues as well as animal cruelty.
By Jimy Tallal / Special to The Malibu Times
A transient known to frequent the Malibu Pier area was arrested on charges of animal cruelty after allegedly choking a brown pelican to death last week.
At the time of the incident, a witness near the Malibu Pier flagged down an L.A. County Sheriff’s patrol car and said Sergio Alvarez, 30, had a pelican by the throat and was choking it with both hands. Witnesses told the sheriff that the pelican “flapped its wings in distress until its body went limp and died.”
They then pointed to Alvarez walking on the sidewalk. Alvarez was detained, and his comments led the investigating deputy to believe he had killed the pelican. The deputy located the carcass with the help of witnesses.
The homeless man told authorities that he was hungry after not catching any fish at the pier all day, so he killed the bird in order to eat it, according to a press release by the sheriff’s department.
The California Wildlife Center (CWC) took possession of the dead pelican. Jeff Hall, the CWC’s marine mammal coordinator, said lifeguards contacted CWC to report “a guy walking around holding a pelican by the neck.” When Hall arrived, he said the bird was lying next to the sidewalk.
Jo Joseph, hospital manager at CWC, said the bird looked emaciated when it arrived, and was less than a year old. Its remains were photographed by detectives and are being kept as possible criminal evidence.
Alvarez was booked at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and arraigned in Van Nuys Superior Court on Friday, where he pleaded not guilty to one felony count of animal cruelty. Prosecutors with the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office were granted a request for $30,000 bail.
Alvarez faces up to $20,000 in fines and a maximum of three years in prison.
Sheriff’s officials said Alvarez was not taken for a psychological evaluation because he was not deemed a threat to himself or others, or severely disabled. Posing a threat to animals is not considered a threat to other people, according to authorities; and bizarre behavior on its face is not automatically reason for an involuntary psychiatric hold.
Killing a brown pelican is a violation of the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits hunting, capturing, killing or possessing (among other things) not only the bird itself, but any part, nest or egg. The law also protects aquatic birds, songbirds, raptors, ravens and many others. A felony conviction could garner a fine of up to $250,000 with two years in prison, and misdemeanor fines up to $15,000.
The brown pelican was on the endangered species list for many years, but made a sufficient comeback to be removed from the list in 2009. However, it is still classified as a “fully protected” species by the State of California and “may not be taken or possessed at any time.”
Unfortunately, pelicans struggle with difficulties that may make them easy to catch. International Bird Rescue (IBR) in San Pedro, which receives ill or injured birds collected from Malibu’s shores, recently released a statement reporting record numbers of juvenile Brown Pelicans “struggling to hunt and grounding themselves on beaches up and down the coast.”
The normally robust birds are being brought into the their clinics weak and thin, with some tangled in fishing tackle, pierced with fishing hooks or suffering from broken bones. The organization has taken in more than 400 California Brown Pelicans in the past month.
The Malibu incident is not the first time IBR has witnessed cruelty against this species.
“In the past we have seen pelicans with beaks cut off, wings intentionally broken and feathers mangled by fishermen.” Director Emeritus Holcomb said.