KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – After months of recovery from surgery, a great white heron that witnesses reported suffered a broken wing during a dispute with a fisherman was free on Thursday in Key Biscayne.
Witnesses reported Edgard Valenzuela was fishing when he threw a large rock at the wading bird on Jan. 20, at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Amanda Burke, of The Pelican Harbor Seabird Station near North Bay Village, responded to the state park and found the federally protected bird crouched in the grass, and bleeding from the right wing.
Burke reported that an X-ray later showed the bird’s wing had been fractured in two places and there was an emergency surgery on Jan. 21.
The Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, a nonprofit organization, rehabilitated the bird while FWC officers investigated the case with the help of a park ranger at 1200 Crandon Boulevard.
FWC officers arrested Valenzuela, 34, on Feb. 7, and prosecutors filed a felony case against him on Feb. 8 for intentional killing or wounding of any species designated as endangered, threatened, or of special concern.
Valenzuela appeared in court on Feb. 8 and a judge set his bond at $1. Records show his next trial hearing before Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Laura Maria Gonzalez-Marques was May 27, but he won’t bet there.
Valenzuela was an undocumented migrant, so federal agents deported him to Guatemala.
FWC officers asked anyone with information about this or other similar cases to call the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 1-888-404-3922.
The Pelican Harbor Seabird Station will be hosting a 5K to fundraise for the organization’s mission at 7 a.m., on May 10, at 10800 Collins Ave. For more information, visit this page.