Hawaii Man Charged in Killing of Two Dozen Gulls on Washington Coast

Published 8/21/24 at 8:25 p.m.
By Andre' GW Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection

(Long Beach, Washington) – A Hawaii man has formally been charged with animal cruelty and reckless driving after he allegedly ran over at least two dozen gulls on a Washington coast beach in July and came very close to a woman and her child.

People around the Pacific Northwest and the country were outraged when media and social media last month published photos of a man driving on the sands and intentionally running into a large number of gulls on the Long Beach Peninsula. Those photos including one bird carcass stuck to the front of his vehicle. Numerous witnesses photographed and took video of the incident.

Pacific County Superior court has officially charged James S. Travis, a 64-year-old man from Honolulu, Hawaii with first-degree animal cruelty and reckless driving. The latter charge also stems from when he nearly ran over a woman and child. See the original Man Sought for Running Over Dozens of Gulls on Washington Coast

Witnesses said he was traveling at a high rate of speed on the beach, plowing through gulls on purpose, injuring dozens of them but killing most. Investigators discovered Travis' vehicle – a Jeep Wrangler with California plates – came from a car rental outfit at Portland International Airport, rented under his wife's name. He was alone in the car at the time.

The animal cruelty charges are a class C felony that carry up to a $10,000 fine and a maximum sentence of five years in jail. The reckless driving charge is a gross misdemeanor and has a maximum of one year in jail.

Travis is scheduled to appear in court in South Bend, Washington on September 13.

Witnesses told Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) they observed the vehicle head right into flocks of birds, showing no tail brake lights being applied. When various beachgoers accosted the man and took photos, he appeared to be intoxicated and mumbled apologies.

He reportedly also zoomed precariously close to two other children walking on the beach.

Various media are reporting the car rental agency in Portland noted damage to the vehicle and found some feathers remained in the grill.

These kinds of crimes happen periodically on the beaches along the Oregon coast and Washington coast where driving is allowed. In 2009, the Wildlife Center of the North Coast and north Oregon coast authorities reported finding numerous dead birds around Warrenton and Long Beach that had been killed by vehicles. Someone had been intentionally running over them in rather large numbers.

Gulls – and they are not actually called seagulls – are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Act of 1918. Terminology Reminder: it is gulls and not “seagulls.”

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Andre' GW Hagestedt is editor, owner and primary photographer / videographer of Oregon Coast Beach Connection, an online publication that sees over 1 million pageviews per month. He is also author of several books about the coast.

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