Feeding wild birds on all public and personal property in Half Moon Bay would be almost completely prohibited under a proposed regulation that authorities state is required to control persistent, unattended overfeeding of wildlife by a little number of individuals.
But critics call the proposition — which would forbid even yard bird feeders if they are under 5 feet high — a significant and unneeded overreach.
The draft ordinance would forbid individuals in the little seaside San Mateo County city from intentionally feeding wildlife on public or personal property. Examples consist of leaving trash, animal food or other foods in a “negligent manner likely to attract wildlife” that can result in aggressive habits towards people and other animals.
Supporters state the proposed law will help control raven and crow populations that are injuring other wildlife and the regional ecology, in addition to avoid property damage.
Birds fly over a community in Half Moon Bay. City authorities acknowledge its wildlife-feeding restriction is focused on putting some teeth into efforts, useless up until now, to stop widespread bird feeding by simply a couple of people at the majority of.
Shao-Feng Hsu/Special to The Chronicle
But city authorities acknowledge that it’s focused on putting some teeth into efforts, useless up until now, to stop widespread bird feeding by simply a couple of people at the majority of.
“We are not anticipating ‘measurable’ results, as this ordinance is intended primarily to educate the public and stop feeding before it begins,” said Assistant City Manager John Doughty.
Such regulations are not uncommon in the Bay Area and Northern California. City authorities in Half Moon Bay said they designed their proposition after one in Fort Bragg (Mendocino County) in addition to other comparable laws in Colma, Pismo Beach (San Luis Obispo County) and Sunnyvale.
Feeding wild birds, including pigeons, in public locations in San Francisco is not enabled. Officials have actually sometimes come to grips with issues connected to bird feeding, consisting of in 2007 when the Board of Supervisors voted to prohibit feeding the city’s popular wild parrots.
Despite its restrictions, San Francisco had a hard time in 2015 to attend to a rat invasion in the Glen Park community perhaps connected to a female called the “Birdseed Lady” discarding mounds of seed through the industrial passage.
In Half Moon Bay, the proposed regulation was developed in action to problems and reports from homeowners that some individuals are overfeeding omnivorous birds, such as ravens and crows, Doughty said.
He decreased to state particularly where the issue is taking place or the number of problems the city has actually received.
Birds fly over Half Moon Bay on Wednesday.
Shao-Feng Hsu/Special to The Chronicle
Doughty and the city supervisor consulted with a group of homeowners last September to hear their issues, city files reveal. At a workshop performed by the City Council the following month, a number of homeowners promoted for a regulation managing feeding.
City staff were informed to speak with wildlife specialists on producing such a regulation, and another neighborhood workshop was held last month.
On May 2, the council voted 4-1 to present the regulation prohibiting most feeding. Council Member Harvey Rarback cast the only vote versus it.
Most of the half lots speakers throughout public remark revealed assistance for the proposed guidelines. Several said the feeding of wildlife, particularly crows and ravens, has actually resulted in those birds bugging other birds, to a loss of raptors in the seaside bluff location, and to increased competitors for food and environment.
One speaker, who recognized herself just as Kim, said such habits has actually developed “additional financial burden” for house owners like herself.
She said she has actually seen an “unnatural overfeeding” of pigeons and ravens in the last 2 years, and seen ravens bugging hawks, herons and other birds while they hunt at the Blufftop Coastal Park along the beach.
“The raven population has taken over the bluff top, and it seems that the birds of prey have moved away,” she said.
As an outcome of the overfeeding, she said, her family has actually needed to spend more than $10,000 to eliminate pigeon nests from the photovoltaic panels on their roofing, repair work damage, tidy bird waste and set up protective spikes.
Birds fly along the coast in Half Moon Bay. The city has a draft regulation that would forbid individuals from intentionally feeding wildlife on public or personal property, consisting of leaving trash, animal food or other foods that can result in aggressive habits towards people and other animals.
Shao-Feng Hsu/Special to The Chronicle
“The situation seems to be progressing, as now feed and bags of feed are appearing on curbs throughout our neighborhood,” she said.
Doughty said the city knew the “occasional feeding” taking place on routes and courses near Poplar Beach however said authorities had actually not heard that individuals were leaving bags of feed in areas prior to the general public hearing recently. He said the city would follow up to verify those reports.
However, he said throughout a community conference in October that he experienced “the mass feeding of ravens and pigeons from a residence. I did confirm that the birds were being fed some type of kitty kibbles (not seed).”
Margaret Gossett, vice chair of the city’s Planning Commission, spoke as a local throughout public remark at the May 2 conference. She said an individual in her community “continually feeds the pigeons, ravens and crows, causing property damage and negatively impacting other wildlife.”
“We have asked them to stop, and they won’t stop for whatever reason,” she included.
But Rarback, in voting versus the step, called it “overreach beyond belief.”
Birds fly over the coast in Half Moon Bay on Wednesday. Critics of the wild-bird feeding restriction proposition state it’s a significant and unneeded overreach.
Shao-Feng Hsu/Special to The Chronicle
