Toxic Mothballs Threaten Black Skimmers on St. Pete Beach

0:00It's April 21st. From your city to your ears, this is Tampa Bay News today, powered by AI. Florida Wildlife Officials are probing a nasty incident on St. Pete Beach, where someone dumped hundreds of toxic mothballs near a colony of protected. Black skimmers. This happened Monday just west of the Lido Residences on Gulf Boulevard, right as nesting season kicks off for these birds. Officials think the culprits scattered the mothballs to scare off the skimmers from setting up nests on the dunes. Black skimmers are a threatened species in Florida, facing big threats from coastal development and these chemicals like naphthalene pack serious. Toxicity that can harm birds, pets, people, and the environment. Using mothballs as repellents is straight up illegal here. Volunteers jumped in quick, spending hours picking up over 1,000 mothballs from the sand and even a nearby trash can, but they know plenty are. Still out there posing risks. Those on next door were fired up, calling it an environmental hazard and expressing disgust

1:02over the threat to both wildlife and humans. Senior wildlife officer Brian Ferguson found mothballs inches from the birds and is leading the investigation, but no suspect has been named yet. The accurate smell lingered into the afternoon, highlighting how close this came to disaster. With nesting season underway, officials are pushing hard to wrap this up and protect these skimmers before more harm hits the beach.