More than 30 pelicans mutilated on Southern California coast

Updated: Jun 15, 2021 / 01:33 AM CDT

TOPSHOT – A woman wearing face masks watches the ocean in Huntington Beach, California on May 02, 2020. – Orange County beaches will remain closed after a California Superior Court judge rejected a request May 1 to block California Governor Gavin Newsom’s order to close local beaches during the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Apu GOMES / AFP) (Photo by APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) — More than 30 brown pelicans have been viciously attacked and mutilated along a coastal stretch of Southern California, a wildlife care organization said Monday.

At least 22 of the rescued pelicans had their wings broken so severely that bones came through the skin, according to the nonprofit Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center.

Officials are asking anyone with information on the attacks to contact authorities.

“We need your help to find whomever is performing this atrocious act,” the center said in a statement.

A total of 32 injured pelicans have been found on the Orange County coast between San Clemente and Huntington Beach over the past eight months, said Debbie McGuire, the center’s director.

More information is expected Wednesday at a joint news conference by the wildlife care center and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“These are very serious injuries that require emergency surgeries and long term care,” Dr. Elizabeth Wood, a veterinarian, said in the statement.