Animal cruelty charges are filed

Two Newport Beach-men have been charged with four misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty after cutting down a ficus tree and destroying several nests with young snowy egrets and herons, authorities said.

Neighbors had pleaded with Stephen John Esser, 47, and David Roger Stanley, 40, not to cut down the tree, but they did anyway, Orange County prosecutors said last week.

The ficus was removed May 28 as part of a demolition project in the 1500 block of East Balboa Boulevard. The tree was home to nestlings, or baby birds that can’t yet fly, and fledglings— young birds still learning to fly— prosecutors said.

The felling of the ficus left five of the 12 nestlings in the tree dead, prosecutors said.

The incident was reported to the Newport Beach police’s animal control unit, which investigated.

If convicted on all charges, Esser and Stanley face up to one year and six months in jail.