WESTERLY, R.I. (AP) — A piping plover chick taken by vacationers from a Rhode Island beach died at a wildlife center on Cape Cod, despite efforts to save it.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement Monday that people from Massachusetts visiting a beach in Westerly, Rhode Island thought the bird was orphaned and took it home.
The chick’s health worsened and it was transferred to the Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable, Massachusetts where it died.
Piping plover are a protected species and removing them from the wild is illegal.
The service urges people not to disturb baby wild animals, even if they appear to be alone.