PLOVER dEAD-INVESTIGATION ENSUES
 

The article starts off by saying, "the post-mortem on the tiny bird was clinically graphic".

I didn't know how to copy the entire article to this site so I posted the link. Reading the article details just how serious some people take plover matters.

WWW.MVGAZETTE.COM/ARTICLE.PHP?16837

Plover Found Dead; State Investigates
By MIKE SECCOMBE

The post-mortem report on the tiny bird was clinically graphic.

The chick was laterally compressed, with internal trauma to the right side, and hepatic, pulmonary and intestinal rupturing. The left eye contained sand grains adhered to the surface and compressed within, misshaping it. There was trauma to the left side of the brain and the pelvis was squashed out of alignment.

“The bird was otherwise in good condition, and results are consistent with the hypothesis that the chick died from being crushed,” the report said.

It was only a little bird, so some may think only a little tragedy.

But the chick was a baby piping plover, a protected species, designated threatened under both the federal and Massachusetts Endangered Species Acts in 1986. Only a couple of dozen pairs nest on Martha’s Vineyard each year, so it’s a big deal for people who care about conservation.

And it could be a big deal as well for the person who left a trail of footprints into the closed area around the plover’s nest on State Beach last week. The crushed bird was found in one of the footprints.

The law imposes fines of up to $25,000 for “taking a single plover adult, egg, or chick; these regulations include harassment in the form of disturbance, outright destruction, and major alterations of habitat.”

And stepping on a chick counts as a taking.

That is, of course, in the remote chance that the person who did it could be identified.

The chick was found dead at 9:10 a.m. last Tuesday by a staff member of the Mass Audubon Society’s coastal waterbird program, Stephanie Kelliher. The chick was within a 50-meter (roughly 150 foot) radius area enclosed with a symbolic fence and posted with warning signs.

The dead chick was found lying in what the Audubon report described as “a depression in the sand that resembled a footprint inside of the symbolic fencing just north of Big Bridge in Oak Bluffs on the ocean side of Joseph Sylvia State Beach.”

Sgt. Patrick Grady of the Massachusetts environmental police came to the scene. Dukes county manager Russell Smith also attended. United States Fish and Wildlife law enforcement was contacted.

But Becky Harris, director of the coastal waterbird program, said all the law enforcement people advised that there was not enough evidence to make a case.

She nonetheless sent the little body to a pathologist, Andrea Bogolmoni at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for a necropsy and CT scan, because, as she said: “I haven’t come across an example before as clear cut as this — a chick in a footprint.”

And although she said it is frustrating to her, she agreed the chances of finding the person who did this are slim. “Very, very slim, and this probably happens more often than we know,” she said, adding:

“In the few cases that have gone to court we have to send the bodies to a lab in Oregon, and they decompose and you can’t get much.”

This time, too, they haven’t go much, but the society wanted to release the report and pictures anyway, in the hope that the death will at least serve the purpose of reinforcing in people’s minds the reason sections of beach get closed off at this time of year.

“Sadly,” said Ms. Harris, “a plover chick’s response to a threat is to crouch in the lowest spot it can find. Someone could step on one and not even know.”

Another thing people might not know either — you don’t have to step on a plover to be in trouble with the law. You can be fined just for being inside the closed area.

Pets are not permitted on State Beach or any other Massachusetts beach between April 1 and August 31. Fireworks are prohibited from April 1 until all chicks have fledged and left the nest. Kite flying is prohibited within 200 meters of nesting or territorial adult or unfledged juvenile piping plovers between April 1 and August 31.

These are not, as Mr. Smith the county manager points out, major inconveniences.

“I mean, we’re not talking about moving people out of their houses or anything,” he said.

He also issued a warning.

“The county manages the beach for the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, and . . . takes its stewardship of the land seriously,” he said. He continued:

“We are losing a species on the planet every 20 minutes. That rate is something on the order of 1,000 times the natural background.

“These are the times in which we live, and realizing the magnitude of what’s happening makes it clear we should do our little part here.

“Now, I’m not alleging any deliberate wrongdoing here. But we need to make it clear people are not allowed in the roped off areas.

“That beach has been used for 150 years, and during that time the birds have also been nesting there.

“We just have to make sure both interests are met. And it’s the county’s position that we protect the resource.”

I bet the "clinical examination" or "autopsy" cost about $25,000.00........funny.....you have to do an autopsy to determine the damn thing was stepped on???? Maybe the fact that it was found in a track of a foot print should have tipped them off?!?!?!:smash:

Are there any suspects? Maybe it was staged by a PETA actvist to throw the blame at the big, bad fishermen and get all access denied???:ss:

Oh...and they have to send the "corpus posthumus" to Oregon to be examined!!!!! Thats our tax dollars hard at work!!!!

It was IN the enclosed area with FOOTPRINTS leading INTO the enclosed area.
So obviously someone went out of their way to kill it.

I love the sound of those tiny little bones getting crushed by truck tires. :smokin:

I read it...made the correction. My point was do they really need to go to the trouble???

Thoughts and prayers to the bird's family.

hey, let's just be happy fishing line or hooks weren't found at the scene of the crime!

George.....exactly where were you on the night of June 11th???? Hmmmm????? Can you provide an alibi???:btu:

And people wonder why fishermen get a bad rap. :doh:

With everyone throwing accusations around its no wonder nothing ever gets done.

Yeah! Its all my fault nothing gets done.:jester:

I'm too old to remember where I was last pm. But since the poor little critter didn't suffocate in a pile of shiit, I think we can rule out Sauerkraut, too.

I wonder if they took a plaster cast of the footprint? If its a 15+....it might be either Flaptail or myself??:hidin:

As folks have noted in the past, one of these days they're going to find a dead plover in a seal sized depression and seal drag marks leading back to the sea....then they'll have a conundrum on their hands.

:rotf2: That's great!

I think Stephanie Kelliher did it. If she's allowed in that area she has to be a suspect. Check her boots. I wonder how many of those chicks are killed by the people who monitor these areas?

DZ

:laugha:

Definitely, after that we'll do a fuel rush for multifuel government vehicles by liposuctioning some of our more portly members to provide them with the energy to patrol more often a la Earthrace. That should last them well after oil runs out. :hihi:

And they'd still blame the fishermen for driving the seal up onto the beach to look for food or some other BS.

Next we'll have "CSI:Woods Hole"
or "The Plover-whisperer"

Want them to stop spending money on plovers?
Shut down the beaches to everyone!
Problem solved!

The bird nuts want beach access so they can watch the stupid things, so that kinda ruins the whole "peta/audubon wants to close it all %$%$%$%$ theory. Sorry. :(

Kind of like the 'bunker bill' in RI.. kick out the net boats, so 'we' can have more access to the bunker. :hs:

don't we protect these stupid birds so south americans can shoot them for sport?

Hey, nobody is gonna be happy with what the other wants so simply put, screw everyone!

The people with their fingers on the buttons don't want fishermen.

no, Brazillians eat them for food.
pretty stupid saving them so a foreign country can eat them when they fly south in the winter.:hs:

Isn't that like pissing in the wind.

There's gotta be some brazilians in OB:hidin:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA

I know for a fact that the National fish and wildlife, the Marine fisheries and other groups watch these sites and all your dumb ass negative comments are noted. I keep in touch with them and if I want to know information or regulations I contact them. they always respond promptly and 9 out of 10 times they tell me they have been watching a thread on this or other sites.

also as a group it doesn't make look like we care about stewardship of the areas we want to access.

I know it is sore spot for most fisherman and beach goers but we need to be proactive not counteractive

so these groups use useless threads like this one as research to support their cause? no wonder why the poor little critters don't have a chance.

Take it the way you want, but alot of these scientist's are fisherman like you and I.