For birds trapped in Topgolf’s massive 120-foot nets, getting caught appears to be an unfortunate hazard of the game.
Animal welfare advocates are condemning what they describe as the $1.1 billion company’s failure to protect trapped wildlife. They allege that thousands of birds have been injured or killed in Topgolf’s 12-story nets across the country over the past eight years.
Now, the activists are turning to the courts and other legal avenues.
In a letter sent to Topgolf on Friday, attorney Nora Marino, president of the nonprofit Legal Action Network for Animals, called on the company to immediately obtain equipment capable of freeing trapped birds within a “reasonable amount of time.” She also urged Topgolf to use only “qualified and/or licensed wildlife rescuers and/or rehabilitators.”
“It is our opinion that when any bird is trapped in your netting, and is consequently caused to suffer, be injured, and/or die . . . that is an act of animal cruelty,” Marino wrote, adding that such conduct violates New York state law.
Topgolf operates 103 venues nationwide, including one in New York and three in New Jersey.
Barbara Walker, president of Tampa Bay Raptor Rescue, estimated that the potential toll could be substantial. If each of the 103 nets captured an average of five birds annually over eight years, she told The Post, approximately 4,120 birds may have been affected.
Walker warned that the number could rise “exponentially” in the years ahead.
Frank Floridia, president of Strong Island Animal Rescue League, told The Post that his organization received two reports last month involving hawks entangled in the netting at the Topgolf location in Holtsville, Long Island.
In one incident, a customer alerted Floridia that a bird was trapped while employees and patrons reportedly blew horns and threw golf balls in an attempt to drive it away. Floridia said the venue remained open and play continued for hours as the bird struggled in the net.
Topgolf contacted police and the fire department, but the 100-foot ladders brought to the scene were not tall enough to reach the trapped bird.
The bird eventually escaped on its own, Floridia said, though he could not determine whether it survived.
DON’T MISS: Meet Maya Rudolph’s Family: A Closer Look at Pearl, Lucille, Jack, and Minnie
“And within a week, we get a call that there’s another bird stuck in there,” he said.
According to Floridia, Topgolf staff closed the facility more quickly during the second incident, “because they knew that people were watching.”
Walker, who is licensed as a wildlife rehabilitator at both the federal and state levels, also described a report she received in February from a visitor at Topgolf in St. Petersburg, Florida. The venue is located near a nature preserve.
The man sent Walker videos and said eight vultures had become trapped in the netting. “They were throwing up midair,” Walker told The Post.
After hearing the account, Walker searched Facebook for “Topgolf Bird” and said she found a steady stream of reports and videos documenting similar incidents.
She said some footage showed fire departments spraying birds with hoses in an effort to dislodge them, while another video depicted a bald eagle on the ground struggling against the net.
Topgolf did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Walker said the company’s response to trapped birds “differs from site to site,” and alleged that Topgolf has no standardized procedure in place across its locations.
“These are really untrained people dealing with a pretty complicated rescue with zero species knowledge,” Walker said.
“An average person can’t just go up there and take the hawk or an osprey down,” Floridia added. “It has to be a rehabber that knows how to work with animals”
“If they cut one little rung on that net, they may have to replace the entire net, so it’s much cheaper for them to just rip the bird out, break bones, break feathers, break wings,” attorney Marino said.
Even if a bird escapes the net and does not die — impossible to prove since they aren’t tracked — the terror and injury suffered in the time it is trapped amounts to animal cruelty.
“The animal does not have to die for it to constitute animal cruelty,” she said.
