Well, we are those neighbors. We have been cited by our local health department for feeding the wildlife.
This, of course, is the Royal “We”. Then again, I suppose I am complicit. I did clean up the mess for years. And of course, what makes Gary happy makes me happy.
However, I also support living in civilization.
It has been very hard on Gary. Animals gather around him. Deer come by and look at him sadly. I have always worried that someday Gary would die and then soon after I would be besieged by raccoons hammering on the back door. Not at all. Raccoons seem to say, “Oh, you got one of those letters? We’ll eat some trash then. And we don’t think you’re a hazard to the community. Thanks for all the peanuts. Later gators.”
He was so bereft I entertained him by suggesting alternative hobbies. Raising chickens. Keeping bees. Providing a bat house.
We looked closely at the letter and did not see any complaints about feeding anything but ground feeding animals and birds such as crows and starlings.
That was a week ago.
We have no ground feeders anymore, but we do have three specialized bird feeders: a finch feeder, cardinal feeder, and a bluebird feeder. I want a hummingbird feeder, of course, but for some reason that doesn’t appeal to him.
And best of all, there is some bird that just loves mealworms. Ah, the joy on his face when he showed me the little container of mealworm mix. Just like a little boy.