Bird beaten for stealing ice cream

[HentaiTentacleDemon]

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (AP) - A rare gull that apparently tried to eat a couple's ice cream was euthanized after the man beat the bird with a stick. Dragan Djuric, 50, of Wichita, Kansas, and his wife were eating ice cream New Year's Eve on the boardwalk at Main Beach when a flock of birds attacked them, Laguna Beach police Sgt. Jeff Calvert said.

One bird hit Djuric's wife in the head and tried to take the ice cream. Djuric was defecated on.

The couple dropped the frozen food and Djuric began hitting the birds with a stick, Calvert said.

One of the birds - a rare Heermann's gull - sustained a broken wing and was later euthanized.

Djuric was cited and released on suspicion of animal cruelty.

Heermann's gulls are on the Audubon Society's watch list for at-risk birds. The creatures are surprisingly aggressive and steal fish from the pouches of pelicans and chase other birds to take their prey, according to the society's Web site.

The estimated population of Heermann's gulls is 525,000.

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SOURCE: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com
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If it had been me there, I would have just tap the bird with my foot. I would never go as far as to break any bones.

[Gatsby]

It was only an ice cream cone, he should have just let the bird have it.

[JTchinoy]

the bird's wing whacked the wife in the head and another bird crapped on the guy.

so yeah, i understand he's pissed but that's wayyyy over the top.

why would they euthanize it over a broken wing? they can fix that =/

[Gatsby]

I can understand him being mad, but still I think it may have been an over reaction. It could be the animal lover in me speaking.

[BrightHeart76]

"The creatures are surprisingly aggressive".  Depending on the size of the animal and how aggressive it was being I could see how this would happen.  Imagine you're minding your own business when some big 'ol bird comes pecking at your head.  It would be confusing and frightening, I think it would be natural to strike out at the animal to stop it.  I doubt the man honestly intended to harm the bird.  I would think he would have been much happier if it just went away.

Canadian Geese run wild all over Reno during the winter.  The are so aggressive they will try to fight a car.  When one of those big boys starts charging you and honking at you with that creepy Goose honk...it's scary.  It's human nature to be afraid when an animal attacks you, regardless if it's a bird or a bear.

I feel bad for the bird.  However, there are a lot of ways this could have gone down.  I wish we knew more details.

[HentaiTentacleDemon]

the bird's wing whacked the wife in the head and another bird crapped on the guy.

so yeah, i understand he's pissed but that's wayyyy over the top.

why would they euthanize it over a broken wing? they can fix that =/

i guess no one wants to put forth the money. :/

[JTchinoy]

Well if it's rare, one would assume WWF or something would put up the cash.

[Stormfalcon]

IIRC, the bones in birds tend to be more fragile than in other animals due to their being more hollow and lighter.  My guess is that, if the bones in the wing were damaged badly enough that healing wouldn't have been effective, putting the bird down may have been the more humane option.

[Jun-Watarase]

Yeah, I would second that part on the wing healing. The bones in birds are made partly hallow and lightweight, and when they break, they splinter. If the wing was damaged enough, there wouldn't be chances of it getting it back, and a bird without a wing is better off dead. I don't mean this in a malicious way, but it wouldn't be able to do anything but live a life of suffering.

As for the guy, yes. That's a huge overreaction, but I don't think him reacting like that is illogical-- it isn't the ice cream, rather, the fact that he was attacked by them, and the fact that they attacked his wife, is enough to really piss someone off and try to retaliate.

[AnimeEmperor]

Unless it posed a serious risk of harm i'd never beat an animal. So the birds were pecking at them, run away.

[Baker!-!]

ya i would have just ran away not grabed a stick and beat the bird till it was twitching helplessly on the ground

[JTchinoy]

I dunno, i saw on one of the animal planet vet shows when they fixed a raven's shattered wing bone.

I figured a couple months in rehab and it'll be good to go.  Maybe it was just a total mess of a wing that it was fubar status :(

[Jun-Watarase]

I dunno, i saw on one of the animal planet vet shows when they fixed a raven's shattered wing bone.

I figured a couple months in rehab and it'll be good to go.  Maybe it was just a total mess of a wing that it was fubar status :(

Just because its possible in some cases, doesn't mean it applies to all cases. Let's say that you got an arrow shot in your eye, deep into your brain. A kid was reported to have survived with little damage despite this happening, but in most cases, you're not likely to recover from that damage. That raven's wing bone may have been in good enough condition to be reconstructed, and probably by an accident, but this bird was bludgeoned by a stick, with rage. He's probably not getting it back.

It's kind of hard to compare this sort of thing with humans, because if a guy were to lose a limb... it sucks, but it's not the end of the world. Humans are able to do other things to compensate in their own way to increase their quality of life, with other things. Birds really can't. A bird without a wing is guaranteed a life of suffering and null of a reason to continue living other than the sake of survival. And life for only the sake for survival, isn't having a life, but simply living.

Anyway, I agree that he should've just fled. But not everyone functions the same way, and he didn't exactly do anything wrong per say. (Not going too far into semantics.) People are just thinking he had done something wrong because it was a "helpless animal" and that "it didn't know any better", but chances are, the bird did know the risks, and faced them. If a guy were to go up to an animal that is capable of overpowering him to steal a possession, he'd probably know the risks, and it wouldn't be illogical if that animal attacked him in return. It doesn't matter what the reasons were for doing it-- the circumstances are still the same.

[JTchinoy]

i likely underestimate the damage of a stick beating to a hollow bone :(

RIP bird.

[HentaiTentacleDemon]

i wonder if the bird actually tried to fly away or if it tried to eat the ice cream on the spot.

[L3sli3_Lov3s_Chu]

I don't think the guy over reacted, I probably would've whooped the birds ass too. And the thing is known for being aggressive... Yikes. I CERTAINLY am not Pro-Animal cruelty.. But F@ck. Getting attacked by a bunch of birds while trying to eat a damn ice cream is F'ed up.

[JTchinoy]

I don't think the guy over reacted, I probably would've whooped the birds ass too. And the thing is known for being aggressive... Yikes. I CERTAINLY am not Pro-Animal cruelty.. But F@ck. Getting attacked by a bunch of birds while trying to eat a damn ice cream is F'ed up.

I stopped there.

[Jun-Watarase]

I don't think the guy over reacted, I probably would've whooped the birds ass too. And the thing is known for being aggressive... Yikes. I CERTAINLY am not Pro-Animal cruelty.. But F@ck. Getting attacked by a bunch of birds while trying to eat a damn ice cream is F'ed up.

I stopped there.

I don't see what's wrong with her saying that, honestly. Again, I don't find that it's illogical with the guy defending himself and beating the bird. Anyway, even though I'd prefer the non-violent route, myself, I don't blame the guy. I like animals, but I don't exactly pity them. I don't really take much joy from killing, either (surprisingly) so I probably wouldn't have beaten the bird, myself, in those circumstances.

I don't think the bird is some helpless victim, either, even if it was doing it to survive. It died doing something dangerous, and trying to steal food from another animal superior in strength is a life-threatening thing to do-- and guess what? It died. I'm not trying to place humans on this huge pedestal in this situation, but the bird should've known better not to underestimate a full grown man. The guy who beat it isn't some bad guy who doesn't deserve to live because he killed some innocent bird. He killed the bird because it was being a dick to him and his wife, jacked his ice cream, dumped on him, and was attacking them. Whether he did it out of rage, or self-defense, whatever. Either one of them could've won. The guy just happened to have a stick.

I mean, yeah-- it's a pretty crappy trade-off. The guy lost his ice cream, was annoyed, and was crapped on. The bird lost its life for it. But hey, cest la vie.

[L3sli3_Lov3s_Chu]

I don't think the guy over reacted, I probably would've whooped the birds ass too. And the thing is known for being aggressive... Yikes. I CERTAINLY am not Pro-Animal cruelty.. But F@ck. Getting attacked by a bunch of birds while trying to eat a damn ice cream is F'ed up.

I stopped there.

I don't think I would've KILLED the bird intentionally, but if a bird is aggressively attacking someone, what do you expect to happen? For them to say "Oh, hay! It was an accident, pal! It's okay" or retaliate?

[Jerry]

and thats why we dont feed the birds or animals...

I'm guessing maybe the birds were used to being fed?

ive seen birds either aggressive or used to being feed food and then they'll pick on people if ppl dont share their food.

I'm surprise the old man was able to strike the bird, ( i would guess bird would fly off in danger of getting wounded let alone get beaten with a stick) so obviously the bird willing to risk its life for ice cream.

all in all, its a pretty strange case of ice cream on a stick.

someone get Harvey Birdman: Attorney at law.  ::)