Early this morning I found the endangered species signs covered in seaweed as well as tire and dog tracks in the nesting areas. The vandalism happened sometime overnight, between 6 pm and 6am. 
The grossest thing were the poles bent over, with a wooden box holding down the roping, and on top of that, a huge pile of sand-covered DOG POOP. There was so much poop it had to have been collected.
I cleared off the signs, but rubber gloves and/or a shovel are needed to remove the dog poop on top of the wooden box.
People, and not just young people, were doing donuts in the parking lot on Sunday, right next to the PiPl cordoned off nesting area. When the PiPl monitor Heather asked if the donut-makers were aware of the PiPl, they said, “Yes, but we weren’t going to hit them.”
One pair of Plovers has already been forced into the parking lot by dog owners not properly managing their dogs. There is at least one more pair of PiPl, and The Bachelor, making use of the roped off nesting areas. It would be a heartbreaker to see a second pair forced off the beach and move their nest into the parking lot, too.
Please call 911 if you see anyone harassing or harming the Piping Plovers, or vandalizing the nesting areas on the beach or in the parking lot. Thank you so very much.
Tire tracks in the Piping Plover nesting area #3.
Good Morning Gloucester 
This is just horrible!! Why can’t the City use some of the money from the parking fees to pay for webcams to be installed? I am just sickened by this latest news.
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This is disgusting!!
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Sick people. This is so disheartening. My husband just asked if Heather got/reported the license plate number. I’m afraid that unless the city can come up with a plan to protect these little guys, the feds will come in and mandate a total shutdown. Might not be such a bad idea. You’re a real trooper, Kim. Don’t ever give up. ❤
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Susan, unfortunately I did not get the license plate numbers. Both vehicles were spinning side-by-side in the gravel next to the roped off area. I looked through my binoculars to try and see the plate of at least one of them, but because both vehicles were spinning and throwing gravel around, I kept my distance, standing on the opposite side of the nesting area. Finally, they saw me flagging them down and came to a stop. Then, they spun out of there after we “chatted”, I’m guessing so I could not get a look at their plates. I can describe the vehicles, but was not close enough to ID the drivers and passengers.
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Can they post a police car in the parking lot over night?
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This is so heart wrenching that people have nothing better to do with themselves but to cause harm into this endangered species . Put up web cams
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Hi, just curious, if the plover are endangered and protected, where are the environmental police? Can they close the beach to dogs until the chicks hatch and go on their way?
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The beach is already closed to dogs, but I have still seen a few there.
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I am very sorry to see this Kim. I know how invested you and many others are in the well being of the plovers. This seems to be an act of anger and revenge and it breaks my heart. Such energy could be used in so many other ways. My heart aches for you and the innocent plover/shorebird victims.
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Will thé local police do anything? Thé bords are so precious
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I am speechless…and that’s really hard to accomplish. Is this vandalism considered a federal offense, I wonder. Although, it’s not like we’re ever going to know who did it, and that’s really what bothers me. I guess we monitors are going to have to camouflage ourselves and hide in the dunes with binoculars through the nights now, too? That’s sarcasm.🤯I’m sorry you had to find the nesting area like this, Kim. I was there in the parking lot for an hour, watching over Mom as she got harassed by crows, so I never got to the beach side.
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I was there at 6:00pm this evening.
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I’m disgusted. However, having seen the comments on Facebook, I’m not really surprised.
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Don’t we have cameras on the entrance to the parking lot review the tapes and cite all trespassers and narrow down the guilty party
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What’s a tape?
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Are the cameras functioning 24/7?
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Pretty childish for sure…Vandalism can be both a civil offense and criminal offense depending up statutes.
Just some thoughts…
It’s sort of like building bridges programs in the communities and it’s always a very hard balance. Many commit or do this for the attention cred in street lingo. “Don’t give them the publicity and attention they so crave!” Civil injunctions where possible and hit them where it hurts in their wallets. Like gang issue that’s why many times names are left out!
Maybe set up a warden program where volunteers can be trained to cite violations they do that our way with Traffic Tickets and parking issues both on and on the yard so to be speak. Initially it cost for start up but in the long run it pay dividends.. Using volunteers coordinated through both city and federal side…
Example here! http://www.houstontx.gov/parking/volunteer.html
See also: disabled parking presentation
Dave
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This is infuriating. The city needs to put up that orange safety web-fencing along with clear signage that state fines and then actually fine law-breakers. Get some volunteers to guard the nesting area (24/7 in rotating shifts) from people, dogs and cars etcetera. I am certain there are plenty who feel passionately about the plight of these tiny birds, arm them with video cameras and cell phones to call 911. Just my humble opinion.
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The police and our tax dollars have more important things to do than babysit birds.
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It isn’t the birds that need babysitting!
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I think maybe closing the gates to the parking lot at night might be a start. (Just during nesting season, I know lots of people like walking the beach in the evening in the summer.)
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