Police search for driver after 20 gulls killed in Moncton Coliseum parking lot

Codiac RCMP are looking for the driver of a brown GMC Sierra truck that plowed through flocks of gulls, killing as many as 20 birds and injuring 11 others, in the parking lot of the Moncton Coliseum.

RCMP Sgt. Tyson Nelson said the police have video evidence of the incident, which happened Oct. 27. The video was not released to CBC News because the matter was under investigation.

It's not clear why police haven't found the driver when they have identified the vehicle.

RCMP said acivilian who witnessed the event got thelicence plate, so that's how police could track down the truck.

Nelson confirmed the truck was not stolen and is still with the owner.

Some people think it's funny to just plow a vehicle through roosting gulls in parking lots and that's making me very sad.- Alain Clavette

Most birds, including various species of gulls, are protected by Canada's Migratory Birds Convention Act.

Killing them or destroying their nestsis illegal.

"It makes me sick," said Alain Clavette, a birder and naturalist.

"Some people think it's funny to just plow a vehicle through roosting gulls in parking lots and that's making me very sad."

Clavette said some of the birds would have been injured by the truck and "sufferedlong and agonizing deaths."

Police said they received the complaint at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 27.

The week-long wine expo had started the night before. But Nicole Myers, the Coliseum manager, said she did not report the incident and didn't know much about it.

Clavette saidgulls like to roost or rest in large open areas that look like large bodies of water.

"Basically, any area that's flat, totally open, with no obstacles or bushes for predators to hide," he said.

He speculated that if the incident happened early in the day and it was cold, the birds might have been too lethargic to fly away fast enough to avoid being struck by the truck.

Clavette said it's also possible the birdsdidn't recognize the threat.

"Let's face it, they're used to seeing cars but not cars coming at them to kill them," he said.