ROCKLAND, Maine — The City Council gave final approval Monday night to an ordinance that will ban people from feeding animals to the extent that it creates a public nuisance.
The approval came after complaints from several residents two months ago that they could not enjoy their homes because of a neighbor’s daily large-scale feeding of seagulls.
The rule will take effect July 11.
The vote was 4-1 with Councilor Larry Pritchett recommending that more fine tuning be done on the matter.
The ordinance states that no person shall feed any animal on private or public property if it creates an unclean, unsafe or unsanitary condition.
Residents Harry and Beatrice Earl of Camden Street Terrace asked for approval of the ordinance, saying there had been a period of not having a problem with seagull droppings after the city formally warned their neighbor about her feeding of seagulls. But, they said, the seagulls have returned in the past week.
There was no opposition voiced by the public on the ordinance during the council’s Monday night meeting.
Pritchett said Tuesday that the city needs some type of ordinance to address these situations, but he is concerned the proposed ordinance would be difficult to enforce.
For example, “how many slices of bread are too many?” Pritchett asked.
He said he also is concerned that people could be ensnared in the ordinance inadvertently, such as if a skunk takes up residence in a compost pile.
You know, years ago, when I’d get pi$$ed at a neighbor, I’d buy a big bag of popcorn and take it to the beach next to his house. Seagulls are pretty smart birds…they’d wait on his roof for me every day. Not one, not two, but probably a hundred of them.
Oh well. I don’t live in Rockland anyway. And now I don’t have a neighbor. ;-)
My property.My business.Besides that just say your feeding all the birds with your bird feeder.
I can not wait to see the stupid tickets they write for this one.
An ordinance that narrows thing down and states “to the extent that it creates a public nuisance”…….certainly can and will be interpreted a hundred different ways……Crazy….
The only difference between a Pigeon and a Seagull is where they reside. They are filthy birds that do NOT need encouragement to make a mess. I know I have been dive bombed by them at the McDonald’s or Burger King in Rockland. Enough is enough. They aren’t pretty song birds that you want to attract to your small feeders. They are garbage seeking filth monsters that have enough money to live on the coast…
Lol! Whenever I’m at the Rockland Burger King and I eat in my car, the seagulls come sneaking up one by one until there’s several of them standing there staring you down, with a few more up in the air circling around. Once I dropped my bag of food and my fries spilled out onto the ground, I figured I’d just leave them there for the gulls to eat and I had barely reached my car before there was a mad frenzy of seagulls attacking those fries like a pack of sharks.
Maybe you could petition the rich folks to buy them birdbaths.