An ostrich owner is demanding justice after four of his beloved birds have been shot dead on his Mojave Desert ranch over the last few months.
Two of Mike Matson’s pet ostriches died instantly when they were shot on his property in Newberry Springs in June, where .22-caliber rounds were apparently fired through a fence, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A third ostrich, wounded in the same shooting, made it about 40 feet before collapsing and dying from blood loss. Matson’s wife, Arcelia, discovered the dead bird.
It wasn’t the first time Matson had found one of his ostriches shot. Another bird, Pebbles, was found dead months earlier after she laid a nest of eggs.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department is investigating both shootings, but no arrests have been made, the LA Times reported.
A video on Facebook from the Newberry Springs Community Alliance shows Arcelia escorting a sheriff deputy in June to the bodies of two ostriches that were shot dead.
On his fence Matson now has a banner. “Reward — $1,000,” it read in boldface capital letters, “for the arrest of the a— that shot my ostriches!”
Matson, a longtime animal breeder, moved to Newberry Springs about nine years ago to raise ostriches and other exotic animals, selling chicks and eggs. The small unincorporated desert community sits about 20 miles east of Barstow at the foot of a volcanic mountain range.
He is also vice president of the Newberry Springs Community Services District, a five-member board responsible for services including the volunteer fire department, parks and recreation and street lighting. Matson told the Times that the community has struggled with blight and property crime in recent years, including abandoned cannabis grows that have attracted squatters and illegal dumping.
He told the paper he’s caught people climbing his fence in an apparent effort to steal ostrich eggs, which can sell for as much as $100 each.
Matson believes the shootings of his ostriches were targeted, and suspects they could be connected to conflicts he has developed with people in the community.
One involves an ongoing dispute with his neighbors.
According to the Times, Matson traces the feud back about three years, when he said a neighbor’s pit bull dug beneath his fence and killed Fiona, his first ostrich and one of his most productive egg-laying birds.
Matson reported the incident to authorities after saying a neighbor’s child told him the family’s dog was responsible. The neighbors offered a different account to animal control, saying coyotes killed Fiona and their dog only dug under the fence afterward to eat the carcass.
The dispute grew from there. Matson has accused his neighbors of allowing trash to blow onto his property and said fireworks launched from their property once frightened an ostrich so badly that it ran into a fence and broke its neck. He also alleges the neighbors’ dogs later killed two more ostriches and that another bird choked on plastic trash that came from their property.
The neighbors have denied his allegations, and accused Matson of harassing them.
