17 dead birds, scattered shotgun shells found in SC, DNR investigates

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. — The Department of Natural Resources is looking into who's responsible for 17 dead birds and scattered shotgun shells a wildlife activist found in Horry County, WPDE reported.

"They just want to exist, too," said Kimberly Cerimele, who discovered the dead birds. "They want to live. This is all they got. Myrtle Beach is knocking down all the trees and we don't have anywhere for them to go."

Cerimele lives in Horry County and volunteers as an injured wildlife first responder when she went to a property with new homes after getting a call from DNR saying one of the geese was about to drown.

"I walked around the property and we found 17 bodies and 11 shotgun shells nearby," she said. "It's heartbreaking to know that somebody can go out there and just like mass murder a bunch of birds, just because they don't like them or because they are putting up a development."

The birds cannot be hunted, killed, or sold in South Carolina, unless it’s in season and you have a permit, according to DNR’s website.

The season to hunt and kill those birds does not start until Sept. 1, and Cerimele said no permit was issued on that property, which has led to DNR investigating the issue.

Cerimele said she understands how the poop and sounds could be annoying, but said, "if you move into a house with a pond in your backyard, you better expect wildlife."

If there's a problem, she suggests you "go the right route, the legal way. Try to contact somebody, a nuisance company, a pest-control company."

Horry County also just passed a separate law that said a person cannot feed or take the birds into residential areas.

Cox Media Group