Every complaint I've seen centers on people feeding deer, yet the ordinance is so general that it would ban most bird feeding, especially ground-feeding birds (doves, towhees, juncos, quail) since "wild animals" other than songbirds can usually access seed in bird feeders as well.
If the problem is people feeding deer, make an ordinance about that. Don't prohibit all wildlife feeding including bird feeding. It just makes criminals out of half the county residents.
I request that Council move forward with a Wildlife Feeding Ordinance. The threats to public safety are real, not hypothetical. The issue is analogous to that of the $1.9M safety netting that Council approved for installation at the golf course (10/10/23), for which Chair Derkacs said, "My perspective is that once we have been told that there is a safety liability at the course, it is up to us to then take precautions to address that liability and protect the public."
For 25 years I've witness the forest's recovery from fire and without a doubt the fire has created ideal deer habitat. Supplemental feeding by residents is unnecessary and indeed is harmful to wildlife and potentially a safety issue for humans. I fully support the consideration of a wildlife feed ordinance. Further, for consistency, I'd recommend eliminating "groundhogs" and "opossums" from the wildlife definition because neither are found in the Los Alamos area.
The deer inside the city are akin to giant rats, they eat landscaping, damage property and propagate disease. The predators are moving to hunt the fattened, lazy, complacent deer and are finding the locals to be easier prey. Its only a matter of time before someone gets hurt or killed. In my opinion, we should go further and encourage non-firearm hunting inside the city, particularly in the canyons and on the golf course. The wildlife has lost the fear of humans and we should reestablish it.
Every complaint I've seen centers on people feeding deer, yet the ordinance is so general that it would ban most bird feeding, especially ground-feeding birds (doves, towhees, juncos, quail) since "wild animals" other than songbirds can usually access seed in bird feeders as well.
If the problem is people feeding deer, make an ordinance about that. Don't prohibit all wildlife feeding including bird feeding. It just makes criminals out of half the county residents.
I request that Council move forward with a Wildlife Feeding Ordinance. The threats to public safety are real, not hypothetical. The issue is analogous to that of the $1.9M safety netting that Council approved for installation at the golf course (10/10/23), for which Chair Derkacs said, "My perspective is that once we have been told that there is a safety liability at the course, it is up to us to then take precautions to address that liability and protect the public."
For 25 years I've witness the forest's recovery from fire and without a doubt the fire has created ideal deer habitat. Supplemental feeding by residents is unnecessary and indeed is harmful to wildlife and potentially a safety issue for humans. I fully support the consideration of a wildlife feed ordinance. Further, for consistency, I'd recommend eliminating "groundhogs" and "opossums" from the wildlife definition because neither are found in the Los Alamos area.
The deer inside the city are akin to giant rats, they eat landscaping, damage property and propagate disease. The predators are moving to hunt the fattened, lazy, complacent deer and are finding the locals to be easier prey. Its only a matter of time before someone gets hurt or killed. In my opinion, we should go further and encourage non-firearm hunting inside the city, particularly in the canyons and on the golf course. The wildlife has lost the fear of humans and we should reestablish it.