Tortured seagull euthanized

A seagull had to be euthanized after about a half-dozen children tried twisting the wing off the bird in Turlock's Donnelly Park, authorities said.

Turlock Police received a call to the park at 1:23 p.m. Sunday after a witness saw the kids with the seagull. When police arrived, there were about 100 children at the park, and the suspects could not be identified.

The bird was found nearby on Hawkeye Avenue with its wing twisted and hanging by skin. Turlock animal control picked up the bird and later euthanized it because of the severe trauma, police said.

This wasn't the first such reported act of animal cruelty at the park.

In December 1994, someone apparently shot a goose in the head with a dart, possibly from a crossbow. The dart went through the bird's head just behind the right eye with such force that the point stuck out the other side.

Animal control workers were able to save that goose, one of two that were shot.