Fines for feeding pigeons?
Photo credit: Photo by Lauren Johnston | Pigeons inside artist Anton van Dalen's coop atop his apartment building on Avenue A on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
NEW YORK - Lean times for the city's iconic bird could be ahead as a city councilman is looking to fine New Yorkers for feeding pigeons their moldy slices of bread or other scraps. Councilman Simcha Felder, (D-Brooklyn), will announce a bill today that would make it illegal to feed pigeons and that would create a "pigeon czar" to be held accountable for all the city's pigeon-related complaints. The amount of the proposed fine won't be known until after Felder consults with the city's lawyers.
"The people of New York are sick and tired of dodging pigeons and their droppings as they walk around the city," Felder said in a news release. "The sidewalks, parks, streets and bridges for our city are littered with evidence that something needs to be done."
Felder, who represents the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Ditmas Park, Borough Park, Midwood, Bensonhurst and Kensington, began crafting the legislation after receiving complaints that the elevated D and F train stations in his district were bombarded with pigeon droppings, said Felder¹s spokesman, Eric Kuo. After calling around, Felder found that no agency was responsible for resolving pigeon-related matters, Kuo added.
Felder's bill also calls for a baseline budget commitment for street trash cans -- keeping litter away from the birds -- and reintroducing hawks and falcons to the city¹s ecosystem to serve as a natural deterrent for pigeons.
Also, Felder wants the city to explore the possibility of feeding birth control to pigeons and adding robotic hawks, which would cost about $4,000 apiece and have been successful in reducing the number of pigeons in Liverpool, England, Kuo said.
Earlier this month, Councilman James Oddo, (R-Staten Island), proposed feeding birth control to pigeons at the St. George terminal of the Staten Island Ferry system, taking a page from a program implemented in Los Angeles.
Laura Brown, animal care specialist for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said she would have to further examine the aspect of attracting more live hawks and falcons to the city, but she applauded the rest of Felder's plan.
"With the calls that we get about just hideous cruelty on wildlife, especially pigeons, we always like to see people taking these humane approaches, these humane deterrents and getting people to be responsible for the problem, too," Brown said.
Brown added that PETA also encourages people not to feed pigeons because it attracts the birds to places where they are more likely to be poisoned or shot. If pigeons are not fed, they will congregate elsewhere where they can find food, Brown said.
New Yorkers yesterday largely agreed that pigeons didn¹t bother them.
"I don¹t really notice the quantity, so I don¹t really see a need to fix anything," said Steve Dube, 28, of Manhattan. "I was in London last week and it¹s much worse there."
"I think there¹s a bigger problem with rats," said Georgia Melrose, 24, of Brooklyn. "Maybe something to cap off the pigeon population would be OK."
(with Kristen V Brown)
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