Injured waterfowl won’t be singing swan song

Deepa Bharath

Life for Max was all about frolicking in the water and waddling along

the green grass -- until a month ago.

The swan, with a jet black body and bright red beak, was a

resident at the Mesa Verde Country Club lake.

But on June 10, Max’s life changed. A longtime patron of the golf

club spotted the swan limping along on the grass. It didn’t take

Maxine Grefe long to realize the bird was hurt. She called Animal

Control officers right away and had them take the swan to All

Creatures Care Cottage in Costa Mesa.

An X-ray clearly showed the bird had been shot, said Debbie

McGuire, an administrator at All Creatures Care Cottage.

“The pellet had penetrated all the way to the thigh, hip and the

stomach cavity,” she said.

They still haven’t determined if the swan is male or female but

decided to call it “Max” after Maxine Grefe, who found the bird and

rescued it.

The foot was severely infected, and Max had to get two kinds of

antibiotics to fight the infection, McGuire said.

“With waterfowl, we try to avoid surgery because it can be risky

and quite expensive,” she said.

The country club has been gracious enough to pick up the bills,

McGuire said.

Grefe, who says it’s an understatement to call her a lover of

animals, said she was heartbroken by the incident.

“Who would do a thing like this?” she asked. “You almost tend to

believe what Mark Twain said: ‘People are the cruelest animals.’”

Grefe says she is determined to find Max’s shooter.

“It’s hard to guess who may have done it,” she said. “It’s

probably kids checking out a new air gun they received as a gift.”

She put up fliers on almost every lamppost in the area surrounding

the country club and has gotten one response so far.

“I want to make whoever did this realize that there are

consequences if you hurt a helpless animal,” she said.

Grefe also sent out a letter to the principal of TeWinkle Middle

School asking her to educate students about kindness to animals, she

said.

“Kids need to know that animals can’t defend themselves and depend

on human kindness to survive,” Grefe said. “Education is key.”

She said police have not assigned a case number yet, but that they

are investigating the incident.

Such shootings, unfortunately, have been common in Costa Mesa,

McGuire said.

“Over the last decade, we’ve got more than a 100 birds, ducks and

geese that have been shot,” she said.

Many birds came from TeWinkle Park, McGuire said. Costa Mesa

police have apprehended at least two suspects over the years on

animal cruelty charges, Lt. John FitzPatrick said.

“If we have a legitimate suspect, we do file an animal-cruelty

case with the district attorney,” he said.

But it’s not easy to catch these offenders, FitzPatrick said.

“These people are cowards,” he said. “That’s why they take

advantage of innocent animals.”

Max is recovering slowly, McGuire said.

“His infection has come down with the medication,” McGuire said.

“It started out with a 24,000 white blood corpuscles count, which is

way above what is normal, which is 10,000. Now it’s come down to

14,000.”

Max’s situation was touch-and-go for a few days, and he was

struggling to survive, McGuire said.

“It still is tough,” she said. “It could suddenly go downhill. You

never know.”

Max has begun using the injured leg.

“We’ve been letting it swim in a tub of water,” McGuire said.

On Wednesday, he graduated to swimming in a bigger pool and was

taken to the Wetland and Wildlife Center in Huntington Beach for

advanced physical therapy, she said.

“If he continues to progress, we’ll be able to release him at the

country club as early as next week,” she said.

Meanwhile, Grefe is rooting for her namesake.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” she said. “I hope he makes it.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.