In the Pipeline: Feeding wildlife has dangerous repercussions

OK, I will be the bad guy. The feeding of all wild birds in Huntington Beach needs to stop. Today.

I know we’ve all done it with our kids — sprinkled bread crumbs in the lake and watched the ducks gather. But it’s gotten way out of control. The excessive feeding is harming the birds, strangling the environment and hurting businesses.

The recent road kill near Carr Park at Heil and Springdale? Ducks that were so used to human feeding that they were following people across the street.

The 80 dead trees in Central Park? Those were eaten by worms that would have been eaten by birds had the birds not been getting so fat and sick from peanuts, popcorn, cookies, crackers, potato chips, tortillas and stale bread.

And look on the ground. The potentially disease-ridden slime that you and your dogs are walking in? All from the birds that are being overfed in the parks. Think of where you track that stuff.

What used to be cute is becoming catastrophic.

It’s time for all of us to stop and rethink how we interact with wildlife. Birds in Huntington Beach don’t need us to feed them. Lakes, ponds, fields and an ocean provide them with plenty of food. So you’re not helping them. In fact, you are hurting them. You’re changing their behavior and setting the stage for disease, scum-ridden ponds and many other hazards.

I was with Kathy May at her restaurant in Central Park the other day. As if it isn’t hard enough to run a restaurant, she spends about half her day trying to explain to people why they can’t feed birds around her business. She has passed out more than 5,000 fliers (printed on her dime) with information from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

What does she get in return? People call the police on her for “harassing” them and for shooing ducks from her establishment. People curse at her and flip her off, in the same arrogant manner as the people who illegally let their dogs off leash and then scream at you for pointing it out to them. The posted signs in the park are routinely ignored.

The hazards of feeding waterfowl include avian diseases such as cholera and botulism, overpopulation, interbreeding (feral and domestic fowl come together for the food), property damage (the “grazing” results in major landscape problems), poor water quality (increased waste matter contaminates the lakes) and non-migration (they won’t leave as long as the eating is good).

May said the massive feedings go on almost all day every day. People dump 50-pound bags of grain and full loaves of bread — which attract vermin and coyotes. We are allowing environmental chaos to all but take over our parks and threaten to bleed into other parts of Huntington Beach — if it hasn’t already.

May doesn’t just deal with excessive bird feeders around her restaurant. She revealed a darker side to bird abuse that I wouldn’t have believed had I not seen the pictures. According to May, she and her customers have witnessed several men who go to the park and place geese in chokeholds to stun them. Once the birds are incapacitated, the men carry them around, cuddling them and sitting on benches with their arms around them, as if on a date.

Budget cuts in the past 10 years removed all park rangers. Clearly it’s time to rethink what is happening. We need rangers, ambassadors, wildlife experts and volunteers to educate and, when necessary, punish the culprits.

We are losing control of parks in more ways than I can document in one column. But it is time to reclaim them.

Incidentally, yes, it is illegal to feed birds, squirrels and any other animal in the wild. State law reads: “No person shall harass, herd or drive any game or nongame bird or mammal or furbearing mammal. For the purposes of this section, ‘harass’ is defined as an intentional act which disrupts an animal’s normal behavior patterns, which includes, but is not limited to, breeding, feeding or sheltering. This section does not apply to a landowner or tenant who drives or herds birds or mammals for the purpose of preventing damage to private or public property, including aquaculture and agriculture crops.”

If you feel the need to feed animals, go to a controlled environment like a petting zoo. Or buy a bird as a pet. But you need to leave nature alone starting right now. I know this problem will not be solved overnight, but we need a starting point, and I say this is it.

Observe the animals, photograph them and enjoy them in their natural habitat. But don’t engage with them. Don’t feed and harass them.

It’s hard to fathom how much damage has already been done, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start cleaning it up now. I’ve reached out to the city, and officials seem amenable to trying to correct these problems, starting with enforcing laws by writing tickets.

I’ve also spoken to a City Council member about how to address these problems and begin having discussions with the public. It’s about education, awareness and, most important, respect for nature. It’s also about supporting hard-working small-business people in our community, like Kathy May, who are being tortured by too many rude, self-entitled locals.

If you’d like to support the effort, drop me a line. We can do this. We will do this.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 25 books, including “Huntington Beach Chronicles: The Heart of Surf City.” You can chat with him on Twitter @chrisepting or follow his column at facebook.com/hbindependent.