'Senseless': Man Arrested After Beloved IE Great Egret Killed: Report

LAKE GREGORY, CA — A beloved great egret that locals called Arthur was killed in a "senseless act" that led to the arrest of a man from Claremont on Tuesday, Nov. 12, The Press-Enterprise reported.

The newspaper reported that the non-game bird was well-known to visitors to Lake Gregory in the San Bernardino Mountains.

The 36-year-old Claremont man was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty after deputies received reports of a man throwing rocks at ducks. A witness filmed the attack, which wounded an egret sitting on a dock. A second person pulled the bird out of the water and reportedly broke its neck to end its suffering.

According to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, it is illegal to kill an egret or destroy their nest.

“It’s a sense of outrage that a person would come here and kill a bird this way,” Nathan Godwin, general manager of the Lake Gregory Company, which manages the park near Crestline for the county, said in an interview with The Press-Enterprise Thursday.

“It’s just a senseless act of violence in the mountains where everyone comes to enjoy the natural beauty. A lot of people were really upset at how it happened and shocked and surprised that this would even happen.”

Read more from The Press-Enterprise: Senseless act:’ Man arrested after popular great egret killed in San Bernardino Mountains