On a sunny afternoon on the mainline San Quentin Lower Yard recently, three of the resident seagulls who regularly inhabit the lower yard died in a horrific traffic accident. An electric vehicle speeding on the lower yard, at a whopping three miles per hour, ran them over.
The vehicle driver seemed genuinely remorseful of the accident and looked to be in shock. “What happened?” he asked.
The lackadaisical, half-tame birds were distracted by food on the ground that they were devouring, and never saw it coming. The vehicle killed them instantly.
The 30 or so Lower Yard resident geese stood in a semi-circle and watched intently as the driver put the dead birds in a plastic bag and dumped them in the back of his vehicle. As he drove away, the geese honked and lifted off, following the vehicle. You might say the accident created a big flap in the bird community.
