A Florida wildlife officer responded on Monday to reports that hundreds of mothballs, which can be toxic to humans and animals, had been spread near a condo along a portion of St. Pete Beach, according to Audubon Florida and the state’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Audubon and the wildlife agency worked to clear the beach of the mothballs, the agency said in a statement. Julie Wraithmell, Audubon Florida’s executive director, said a handful of volunteers had helped to “meticulously” clean the area.
The wildlife agency received another report of mothballs the next day, though Ms. Wraithmell said it was not clear whether additional mothballs had been scattered on the beach or if they had been left behind from cleanup efforts the previous day.
The agency is investigating the episodes and said officials involved in the inquiry would not be available for comment.
In an interview with The Tampa Bay Times, Brian Ferguson, a wildlife officer identified as the case’s investigator, said he thought the mothballs had been spread to keep black skimmers, a protected bird species, from nesting on the beach. St. Pete Beach is about 20 minutes west of St. Petersburg on the Gulf Coast.
“Mothballs contain chemicals that can be toxic to birds and other wildlife and placement of them on the beach is harmful, as wildlife can ingest them whether on the sand or if blown into the water,” the wildlife commission said in the statement.
Mothballs are sometimes used illegally to control “off-label pests,” including squirrels, skunks, deer, mice, rats and snakes, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Those who do so can be fined up to $10,000 per violation.
“Distributing mothballs on a beach is a terrible idea,” said Ms. Wraithmell, adding, “Beaches are more than just a sterile strip of sand.”
Black skimmers, designated by Florida as a “threatened” species, are native to the state’s coastal areas, though they can also be found in other areas including Mexico and the northeastern United States, according to the wildlife commission. There are 65,000 to 70,000 breeding black skimmers in North America, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
The birds eat fish, which they capture by skimming the water’s surface with the large lower half of their black-and-orange bills.
The loss of habitat as a result of coastal development is the primary threat facing the species, according to the wildlife agency. Pinellas County, the home of St. Pete Beach, is the most densely populated — by humans — in the state.
During their nesting season, which is approaching, black skimmers gather in colonies of up to several hundred pairs on beaches, sandbars and islands. According to the agency, the skimmers use “group mobbing” — what Ms. Wraithmell describes as flying at threats “in a bluff” — to protect their offspring from disturbances and predators like raccoons, opossums and feral hogs.
Ms. Wraithmell said that she had not heard of mothballs appearing on local beaches in the past, and that black skimmers remained a draw for visitors.
Regardless of the region’s population density, she said the local habitat could sustain the birds if they were given just “a little support.”
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