American

Donald Duck should be thankful he is a Disney cartoon character and not a real bird at Walt Disney World's Discovery Island zoological park. After a two- month investigation by the Florida game and freshwater fish commission, the state attorney's office and the Federal Government have filed suit against the company and five employees for alleged cruelty to animals. Among the charges: firing rifles at hawks, beating vultures to death with sticks, and disturbing the nests and eggs of egrets.

In an apparent attempt to control the bird population, Disney had asked for a license to relocate protected wildlife away from the theme park, where they annoyed tourists and destroyed property. But for some of the island's vultures, in particular, relocation became extermination. Game officials, alerted to the situation last June by an anonymous phone tip, were horrified to discover 18 dehydrated black vultures and one carcass stuffed into a small airless shed without adequate food or water; employees admitted that the shed once held more than 70 birds. Disney, which has appointed a panel of environmentalists and ornithologists to rectify the situation, could face $30,000 in fines and lose its permits to keep and display animals at Discovery Island.