Florida wildlife officials are trying to determine who scattered hundreds of toxic mothballs April 20 across a stretch of St. Pete Beach near a colony of protected black skimmers that had gathered near the dunes.
An acrid smell wafted in the air just west of the Lido Residences condominiums on Gulf Boulevard when the Tampa Bay Times visited the beach in the early afternoon. In a trash can nearby, a plastic bag was full of dozens of mothballs volunteers had collected during an hourslong cleanup.
Brian Ferguson, a senior officer with Florida’s wildlife agency who is investigating the incident, said he believes the person who spread the mothballs was trying to deter the skimmers from nesting on the beach…