A Mojave Desert ostrich owner is calling for justice after four of his cherished birds were shot and killed on his ranch in separate incidents over the past several months.
Local politician Mike Matson lost two of his pet ostriches in June when they were fatally shot on his Newberry Springs property, where .22-caliber rounds appear to have been fired through a fence, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A third ostrich was also struck in that shooting. The injured bird managed to run roughly 40 feet before collapsing and dying from blood loss. Matson’s wife, Arcelia, later found the animal dead.
The June killings were not the first time Matson had discovered one of his ostriches shot. Months earlier, another bird named Pebbles was found dead after laying a nest of eggs.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department is investigating both shootings, though no arrests have been made, according to the LA Times.
A Facebook video posted by the Newberry Springs Community Alliance shows Arcelia leading a sheriff’s deputy in June to the bodies of two ostriches killed in the attack.
Matson has since posted a blunt reward banner on his fence. “Reward — $1,000,” it says in bold capital letters, “for the arrest of the a— that shot my ostriches!”
Matson is an elected local official and longtime animal breeder who moved to Newberry Springs about nine years ago to raise ostriches and other exotic animals, including selling chicks and eggs. The small unincorporated desert community lies about 20 miles east of Barstow, near the base of a volcanic mountain range.
He was elected as 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 in 2022. 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.
