Naples police charged Jan Sivy on Friday with felony animal cruelty after reviewing surveillance video from the Jan. 13 incident. Sivy was being held at the Lee County Jail and was later released on $5,000 bond.
Police said they received multiple reports of a fisherman becoming enraged when a cormorant took a fish off his fishing line.
The video shows the fisherman, identified as Sivy, chase the bird down and violently kick it, propelling it into the air and off the pier. The cormorant was taken to the Von Arx Wildlife Hospital in Naples immediately after the incident. It was examined and found to have sustained multiple injuries and trauma. The condition of the bird is unavailable.
ABC7 spoke to some people Saturday on the Naples Pier and they had some colorful reactions to the incident.
"How would you like it if I went up to you and started kicking you?" said Luciano Bianco.
"It's not right," said Patrick Gwilliam.
"Throw him in the water! Throw him in the water!" said Donna Daluise. "It's disgusting. Never hurt an animal."
"If you just leave your bait or your fish exposed to the birds and the elements, things are going to happen," Gwilliam said.
The birds didn't seem to bother anyone Saturday, but Bianco said they are annoying sometimes."When you're casting it, they'll just go straight for it before it ever lands on the water," Bianco said.
But, at only 13, Bianco said he knows better than to intentionally hurt an animal.
"This is their area. This is where they belong. I'd never go to that point and end up kicking a bird."
ABC7 went to Sivy's home on Saturday to hear his side of the story, but no one answered at the door.
(ABC7 - Feb 13, 2016)
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