A pelican was reportedly found dead in Alabama with electrical tape around its beak and rope wrapped around its wing and foot.

WPMI reported that beachgoer Shawn Holland discovered the bird off a pathway on Weeks Bay, also known as Pelican Point. Holland said that he realized the bird had been tied up and tortured.

“It really upset me. It pretty much devastated me to see an animal like that which had to lie there and suffer,” he told reporters.

“To tape its legs together and its beak shut, who would do something like that? It’s beyond me. And I didn’t want it to happen again. I couldn’t walk away.”

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On Tuesday, the Alabama Ecological Services Field Office took to Facebook to announce that authorities believe that someone captured the pelican and left it to die at the bay.

“Not only is this a violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. It’s also a sickening thing to do,” the organization wrote.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s website indicated that brown and American white pelicans are protected under the act. Anyone found to be in violation of the act faces a fine up to $500 or six months in jail, according to the agency.

Fish and Wildlife agents are working the case and are asking beachgoers if they noticed anyone bothering the birds, according to WKRG.

“He [an agent] reported that he found one with the beak and legs taped and a couple with broken wings and buckshot in a couple of em,” Donald Burrell, Jr., an angler, told the local station.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information about this incident is instructed to call the Alabama Ecological Services Field Office at 251-441-5787.

[Featured Image: Facebook/Alabama Ecological Services Field Office]