CITY FOCUS:Wildlife center offers reward

Another $1,000 reward is being offered for information about a mallard shot with an arrow after wildlife volunteers recently offered the same amount for an Egyptian goose that had been similarly injured.

The mallard was rescued by two Good Samaritans on Jan. 10 in Costa Mesa and is recovering at the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach.

The people, who were not identified, rescued the bird from a flood control drain at California and Iowa streets. Costa Mesa animal control officials delivered the injured bird to All Creatures Care Cottage, an animal hospital in Costa Mesa, and later moved him to the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach.

The duck was in shock and suffering from hypothermia when he was brought into the hospital, said Debbie McGuire, director of the Huntington center who also works at the Costa Mesa animal hospital.

He had been caught in the rising water in the flood control drain and became hypothermic, Lisa Birkle, assistant wildlife director, said.

A 24-inch arrow was removed from the duck’s breast under his right wing.

“He couldn’t fly because he was wounded under his wing, but he could float at least,” Birkle said.

Although the bird is recovering, he has blood problems and is being watched carefully, said Sharon Weeks, center supervisor.

The arrow was smaller than the 29-inch arrow that was removed from the neck of an Egyptian goose at the wildlife center recently. The goose, affectionately named Arrowhead by center volunteers, was found in Tri-City Park in Placentia. The arrow left a wound the size of a nickel that went all the way through the goose’s neck. Arrowhead is recovering and is expected to be released in a couple of weeks. There are no plans to release the mallard yet.

Officials said they do not think the bird shootings are related.

“We are hoping that this is an isolated incident,” Birkle said after the duck shooting. “Looks like a kid was playing with a toy arrow and aimed for the fat part of his body and hit the breast.”

The arrow narrowly missed hitting its heart, McGuire said. Animal control officials reported that there were no witnesses, she said.

The two people who rescued the mallard did so at danger to themselves because of the rain last week, McGuire said.

Birkle agreed. “The two Good Samaritans went down into the drain even though the waters were rising,” she said, adding that nobody should get into a ditch — especially one that has rising water in it.

The center is offering $1,000 each as reward for information resulting in an arrest and conviction about the shooters of both birds.