Three charged in Long Beach bird deaths

Three charged in Long Beach bird deaths San Diego business owner Ralph Botticelli, tugboat captain Alan Schlange and tug crewmember Scott Caslin were charged Thursday for contributing to the deaths of hundreds of young nesting seabirds in Long Beach Harbor last year.
   The three were each charged with seven misdemeanor counts for illegally removing, harassing and causing the death of the birds. The three also were charged with destroying several nests.
   Two of the charges carry a maximum one year in jail or $2,000 fine, while the remaining five carry a maximum of six months in jail or a $1,000 fine for each count.
   The State Fish and Game investigation into the bird deaths began last June when the bodies of some 500 Caspian and elegant terns began washing up along the Long Beach shoreline.
   The birds, which were mostly non-flying adolescents, had been nesting on two barges secured at one of the port's anchorages about a mile off the Long Beach shore.
   State investigators believe that at the direction of Botticelli, the owner of Point Loma Maritime Services, Schlange and Caslin caused the birds to fall overboard as the two attempted to move the barges. Unable to fly, the birds drowned and then washed ashore.
   Fish and Game officials believe that the Long Beach site was one of only five elegant tern nesting sites in the world. All of the elegant tern juveniles nesting in Long Beach at the time are believed to have died during the incident.
   Earlier this week, Botticelli told the Los Angeles Times the incident was “an honest and unfortunate mistake.”
   “The birds just kamikazed off the side,” Botticelli told the newspaper. “They had no idea there were birds there.”