Two Florida business owners have been charged with third-degree felonies after allegedly spreading about 1,500 “toxic” mothballs across a beach in hopes of keeping an “imperiled” bird species from nesting there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL-bVpzEHIY
The problem started in late April when beachgoers noticed mothballs on the white, sugary sand on St. Pete Beach in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and bird-loving volunteers from the Audubon Society mobilized. They plucked about 1,000 of the small, white orbs from the sand behind the Plaza Beach Hotel.
If convicted, they could each face up to five years in prison, fines of up to $5,000 and up to five years of probation.
Robert Czyszczon, 47, owner of the Plaza Beach Hotel, and Christopher Monroe, 52, owner of Chris’s Beachside Bar, were arrested on July 29 on felony commercial littering charges and misdemeanor attempted take of a state-listed imperiled species by harassment.
The mothballs were placed where endangered shorebirds were trying to nest.
Through video surveillance and receipt records, investigators found that Czyszczon spent about $60 buying “a large quantity” of mothballs at a Walmart the day before they first appeared on the beach, FWC officials said.
Upon examining his phone, investigators found “incriminating” text messages between him and fellow business owner Monroe discussing their objections to the native fowl. Text conversations revealed plans for placement of the mothballs on the beach, officials said.
“One of the text messages specifically, and I’ll read it verbatim, said, quote, ‘why didn’t you tell me we lose $250,000 to $50,000’ and that’s in reference to these birds being on the beach,” said Matthew Dallarosa of FWC.
Another message took a cruder tone.
“they are the worst birds. and then the bird people will put up a fence around the area and then the beach people will not be able to get to and from.”
Out of fear of lost revenue, the two allegedly hatched a plan to use mothballs to deter birds from congregating on the beach behind their businesses, authorities said.
Phone records proved damning.
Cellphone tower data showed Monroe’s phone was at the same location as Czyszczon’s phone on both nights when the mothballs appeared on the beach, FWC officials said.
The discovery of the mothballs ruffled feathers in the community. There was “a lot of public outcry” expressing concern for the birds, while investigators tried to locate the source of the mothballs, FWC officials said.
Law enforcement served search warrants, combed through “terabytes” of data and eventually seized cellphones to try to locate the individuals behind the caper.
In the viral moment discovered on April 20,
officers with the FWC found over 1,000 mothballs spread across the beach near the Plaza Beach Hotel. The next day, on April 21, 500 more were found in the same area.
According to investigators, the mothballs were placed where black skimmer shorebirds were attempting to establish a nesting colony.
“[Mothballs] can harm them, it can kill them, it can kill the adults, it can kill the chicks if they ingest it. So it can cause the whole colony to completely abandon their nesting effort,” said Lisa Reich, founder and CEO of the Coastal Wildlife Advocacy Group.
Reich believed the number of mothballs could far exceed initial estimates. “There’s not just hundreds, there may be thousands of mothballs out there,” she said.
While Reich called the arrests an important step toward holding people accountable for harming Florida’s wildlife, she said the biggest success is what happened afterward: The black skimmer colony returned and has successfully nested this year.
The black skimmers that were nesting in the area are a protected species in Florida. According to the FWC, there are only about 6,800 of the species in the entire state, and several hundred nest in Pinellas County.
“What that harassment is doing is delaying their ability to establish that nesting colony, which pushes the date that their young can fledge from the nest further back in the season,” an FWC spokesperson said.
This delay matters because late-season storms pose a threat.
Laskowski said delaying the birds’ nesting season can have lasting consequences. “So then you run into potential larger storms at the end of a hurricane season that can wipe out a colony if those young birds haven’t fledged yet,” he said.
The men did not respond to requests for comment.
Both are out of jail on bond.