Pensioner could be fined for feeding birds

[imastawka]

A disability pensioner could be fined up to $1,000 for feeding birds in his own backyard.

Brad Martell has been feeding the birds morning and night for the last two decades at his home south-east of Melbourne.

The retiree claims council workers spied on him for weeks before fining him $200 and making him face court where he could be ordered to pay much more.

Initially it was ducks, but virtually every other bird has decided to pop in now and then,' Mr Martell told 9News.

While getting 'great enjoyment' out of feeding the birds he also ruffled a neighbour's feathers.

The neighbour reported Mr Martell to Bayside City Council and claimed the flocks of birds made their backyard unusable.

The disabled pensioner consequently started feeding his feathered friends in the backyard instead of the front.

However, Mr Martell received a summons to court which included nine charges for allegedly breaking 'local law'.  

The retiree is expected to face court on June 26 and if he is prosecuted he could face a fine of up to $1000. 

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/disability-pensioner-could-be-fined-up-to-dollar1000-for-fe...

His own backyard!  Spying on him for three weeks.  Petty-minded bureaucrats.

[joztamps]

The problem is almost certainly down to the fact that the birdbrains don't recognise property boundaries; while they're waiting for the munga to appear, they sit/**bleep** on any available nearby structure, eg the fence and/or the neighbour's roof, shed, garage, etc.

[rose*petals]

Bloody ridiculous - and 2 ice addicts get a slap on the hand for assaulting paramedics.  The world's gone mad.

[bright.ton42]

Wife......how was your day darling?

Cr............i did serious surveillance

Wife......  wow.    ice?   Cocaine?

Cr......     .no, worse than that.

Wife........wow 

Cr........    Yip,    .illegal bird feeding.

Wife........omg omg that still goes on?

Cr..........  Yip,     but we will stamp it out 

Wife..........wow, you are so brave  .

Cr.............  Fidelity,  Bravery,   Integrity 

Wife ....    . um, isn't that the FBI.?

CR.......     ...Same thing, darl, same thing. 

[go-tazz]

When we lived in Portland we had a similar situation,(neighbour feeds the birds and buys birdseed to scatter

around).

Luckily our washing didn't cop it to often but hers she used to wash with the hose to remove the droppings,

(which could be on the line for days as it doesn't exactly get to warm there).

Neighbor behind them wasn't so lucky and had to end up buying a drier as their clothes copped it.

Council informed her to stop and she would be fined if she didn't,(she totally ignored that and kept going but

then moved).

When she moved the birds used to "visit" the surrounding places for about a week before they got the hint.

Provided he got a warning first I don't see a problem with him getting fined if he then kept going.

[tasfleur]

[video]

[johcaschro]

My mother was an inveterate bird-feeder. She only seemed to attract the local pigeons however, much to the distress of her next door neighbours who often complained to her about pigeons perching on their roofs, liberally dispersing that thing for which pigeons are notorious.

It was an anti-social activity of hers which she just could not be persuaded to stop.

She also used to feed the magpies - - - with low-fat mince meat. She also fed the young magpie chicks this stuff.

I did warn her and tell her that minced meat is not a good diet for young 'pies as it is an incomplete diet lacking essential nutrients.

Would she listen?

Well, you know how it is with bird-feeders. They think they are helping the birds when in fact they are really harming them by giving them an inadequate and un-natural diet and teaching them dependance on humans, and de-skilling the birds in foraging for themselves.

Oh yes, and those two magpie chicks?

Well, one day my mother called me worried that there was something wrong with the chicks she fed.

Their toes were curled (flexed) and they couldn't straighten them to stand. They couldn't stand at all.

Now this is a condition called toe curl . It is a developmental disability due to lack of riboflavin in the diet. It is irreversible as far as I know unless splinting is administered to the affected claws and a riboflavin supplement is immediately added to the diet.

I don't know what happened to these magpies after my mother took them to the vet for assessment.

I was too angry with her to even talk to her for a rather long time.

Feeding wild birds, if not done very carefully, is tantamount to animal cruelty and I fully support that people be discouraged from doing so.

I wonder who else here has seen the dreaded toe curl in wild birds they feed and wonder just why this happened?

[bramarte]

https://www.change.org/p/to-bayside-council-allow-residents-to-feed-wild-birds

[bramarte]

https://www.change.org/p/to-bayside-council-allow-residents-to-feed-wild-birds

[bramarte]

https://www.change.org/p/to-bayside-council-allow-residents-to-feed-wild-birds

[johcaschro]

Well I'm not going to sign your petition no matter how many times you post the link to it. Didn't you read my above post?

We cut down the trees to sub-divide and build tacky townhouses and we destroy the countryside turning valuable farming land into real estate and we dig up the landscape grubbing in the dirt for minerals to sell for even grubbier profits and then . . . we sign a petition to throw the birds a few crumbs onto the concrete desert we have created in our greed? Pah!