Wildlife officials in Washington state say they are looking for a California driver who allegedly mowed down a flock of seagulls in his Jeep over the weekend, killing more than two dozen of them.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police said witnesses who reported the incident provided photographs of the silver Jeep Cherokee and its driver, which included his California license plate number, and an image of a dead seagull stuck in the vehicle's grill.
At around 8 p.m. on July 27, the driver allegedly intentionally ran over a flock of seagulls while driving on the sand south of Klipsan Beach, outside Long Beach in Pacific County, killing 25.
"Efforts to save the few birds remaining alive failed," police said.
The Jeep driver "nearly struck" two witnesses who were walking their dogs on the beach, police said. Three other witnesses "stopped the vehicle" to photograph it and the driver, but he fled, police said.
"WDFW police have identified the driver thanks to these community members and officers are currently attempting to contact the man who is believed to be living out of State," police said.
Dorothy Howard told KPTV-TV she saw the "massacre" happen while she and a friend were driving on the beach.
“And all of a sudden this person flew past us and into this flock of birds,” she told the outlet.
“You see a lot of natural deaths, things washed up,” she said. “But, this was just so intentional. It’s horrible. We were in shock.”
Her friend took the photos and sent them to WDFW Police.
“There’s a picture of the car with a bird in the grill,” Howard said. “It’s pretty obvious that he didn’t care what he was doing. It was tragic.”
-With TMX