'It's an intentional situation': Someone is illegally shooting birds in Collier County

Someone is shooting native Florida birds in Collier County.

At least four birds have been illegally shot, found and taken to the Conservancy of Southwest Florida in recent weeks, and only one of the birds survived.

These aren't game birds that are being shot, either. They're protected raptors and wading birds like a great blue heron.

"It's an intentional situation with all of the birds," said Joanna Fitzgerald, director of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida's Von Arx Wildlife Hospital. "It really would be amazingly odd just to be shooting a gun and the bird just fly in front of it."

No one knows where the birds are being shot

Fitzgerald said raptors are sometimes shot by hobby farmers with animals like chickens, which can be taken and killed by raptors.

But she said she doesn't know exactly where the birds were shot as they all traveled away from the crime scene.

"The birds can move around, and that's the problem," Fitzgerald said. "We really don't know where these were originally shot, and the red-tailed hawk is the only one that survived. It had had a fractured leg from being shot, and that wasn't a fresh wound."

Great blue heron, turkey vulture victims too

It's not just hawks that have shown up with gunshot wounds in recent weeks.

A great blue heron and a turkey vulture were admitted to the Conservancy's animal hospital too, causing Fitzgerald to wonder if there is some type of pattern to these intentional shootings.

The vulture didn't die as a direct result of the gun shot wound. Instead, it was hit by a car while trying to feed along the roadside.

"It had been shot and a callous was forming and was he weakened," she said. "And was that why he was near the road and got hit by a car?"

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"The great blue heron only had one bullet, or pellet in it," she said. "The vulture was peppered with a BB gun. They're scavengers, so I'm not sure why someone would shoot a vulture because they're not eating your chickens. That just seems even more cruel."

None of the victims were gamebirds

There are seasons in Florida for birds like certain ducks, turkeys and doves, but none of the birds that have been shot recently and brought to the Conservancy have a hunting season.

It's illegal to shoot any of the birds that have been showing up at the Von Arx.

"It's very clear that no one would be permitted to hunt, there's no hunting season for these birds," Fitzgerald said. "Ducks, doves and turkeys, there are hunting seasons for them, but none of these are ever legal to hunt."

Fitzgerald said she has seen shotgun or rifle wounds in animals like bald eagles, ospreys and brown pelicans.

"It is always illegal to shoot birds like hawks and great blue herons," Fitzgerald said.

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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Red-tailed hawk, other protected birds illegaly shot in Collier County