Speculation has risen against someone that authorities believe is callously snapping pelicans’ wings and then tossing the birds into the water to slowly suffer, starve and die along the shores of North Carolina’s beaches.

Reports from several coastal communities—including Wrightsville Beach and Masonboro Island—have been pouring into wildlife hospitals across the state, where they’re tallying the mounting number of immobile pelicans found washed ashore.

Figures suggest that dozens of pelicans have been admitted into wildlife hospitals and shelters across the state, all of them diagnosed with a broken and splintered humerus—the bone which extends between the elbow and the shoulder—as well as severe bruising on either side of the break.

Authorities believe that the frequency in which pelicans are washing ashore mean exponentially more are dying at sea.

Authorities have not been able to confirm the precise number of pelicans falling victim, although hospitals in Oak Island and Hubert, N.C. reported about 25 pelicans had been admitted over the last month, said Elise Traub, deputy manager of the wildlife abuse campaign at the Humane Society of the United States.

Witness reports allege at least three pelicans have washed ashore in Wrightsville Beach, but whether those pelicans had broken wings was unknown as of Wednesday, Jan. 20.

Wrightsville Beach park ranger Shannon Slocum said one pelican washed ashore Tuesday with no broken wings. Slocum confirmed that pelicans with suspicious breaks showed up in the past. Three came ashore in 2008, he said.

These pelicans are usually unable to recover from the extent of their injuries, so most of them are euthanized; that is, if they don’t starve to death first.

"This is strictly limited to one spot on the wing. It always seems to be the same wing, and we think its one person who is just taking a big pole and whacking them," said Toni O’Neil, director of the Possumwood Acres Wildlife Sanctuary in Hubert, which has cared for about a dozen pelicans since December.

The extent to which the bone is broken has led wildlife authorities to suppose whoever is harming these birds is doing so deliberately, with knowledge the injuries will eventually cause death. This has been an issue for years, O’Neil said. Every winter, a growing number of pelicans are found with the same injuries.

Authorities believe the perpetrator is a commercial fisherman.

As fish dive deeper into the water to escape the cold of winter, pelicans are forced to follow in search of food. This creates an opportunity for pelicans to become ensnared in gill nets or trawlers, frustrating the fishermen.

In 2009, O’Neil said the sanctuary received 15 pelicans, more than ever. Only one was released. The rest died.

The pelicans began washing up this year on Dec. 17, on Sunset Beach, Holden Beach, Oak Island, Caswell Beach, Bald Head Island, Kure Beach, Topsail Island and around Camp Lejuene.

Two Wilmington veterinarian hospitals also said Monday that their doctors had treated injured pelicans in the past, but none had been admitted so far this year.

"We usually will see a couple of pelicans a year that have fishing hooks stuck in their body or wings and fishing lines wrapped around their body," said Dr. J. Melvin Howard of Atlantic Animal Hospital.

As the reports of injured pelicans mount and public backlash grows, wildlife authorities have ramped up efforts to track down a perpetrator.

The Humane Society of the United States and the Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible, Traub said.