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- Thread starter Admiral Beez
- Start date
picard102
Senior Member
Your snuff porn doesn't do anything to stop me from feeding them.
Especially since it's not legal in Ontario.
@interchange42 are users allowed to post animal abuse on these forums?
You're right, we should not be allowing people to talk about feeding wildlife on this forum. Wild animals should not be habituated to to crusts we throw them, and therefore this new City By-law (that won't get enforced) is still a message to abusers of such animals that the City is against such behaviour...
...so quit your advocacy of feeding wild animals!
42
picard102
Senior Member
Got it, you're fine with posting videos of animals being killed.
lenaitch
Senior Member
If nothing else, squirrels are indigenous to southern Ontario. Rats are not.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
Humane kill traps are perfectly legal in Ontario, especially on private property. It's a sales video by a legit pest control company. - if YouTube and their strict anti-cruelty regs is fine with it, so am I. Where do you draw the line, if ants are in your kitchen are you putting down ant poison to kill the queen and colony, or are you perhaps feeding them as well?
There are four main ways to control pests: first, control their unnatural food source (i.e. you); second, relocate them; third, control access to stop destructive activity; fourth, eradicate the pest. My preference is to control access or relocate them, for example we had a raccoon in our chimney and a skunk under our porch, both were humanely removed, the skunk was released in front of our house, after we boarded up its access point, and so far it's not returned. The racoon was taken away by the trapper and released in the Don Valley forest. Two wins there.
The problem with people feeding squirrels is that they then congregate and reproduce near the food source, meaning they tear into people's roofs in order to nest. I still prefer humane control of access to the roof through metal barriers, but that doesn't work well if the food source is not also controlled. Thus I can understand why the lethal option is finally resorted to by those homeowners who might be fed up by their neighbour's feeding wildlife that is perfectly capable of living off the land as intended.
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SubHuman
Active Member
While obviously some people find it upsetting to see it happen, not everyone thinks of it as necessarily being something to be avoided. Hawks (or falcons, owls, shrikes, etc.) have to eat too, and there's generally fewer of them than the smaller birds they eat.
When Birds Become Bird Food
Hawks are capitalizing on the abundance of prey attracted to backyard bird feeders
www.nwf.org
https://birdwatchingbuzz.com/do-hawks-eat-birds/
lenaitch
Senior Member
Aware. I wasn't saying it as necessarily a negative - just reality. If it is other natural predators, a bird feeder is little different that open water in the winter. Domestic cats, perhaps another.
A couple of years ago we watched with some amusement when a barred owl staked out our feeder. The songbirds caught on quite quickly and bugged out but the Squirrels and Chipmunks, not so much. Their only saving grace was the owl seemed to be new at the game. Unlike when we lived down near Uxbridge when a Merlin or Kestral (I can't recall), nailed a Mourning Dove. We had a 4' chain link fence and it took the raptor several attempts to clear the fence with its catch. I used to live up north and watch float planes trying to take off from small lakes - sort of the same thing.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
There’s a greater number of hawks flying around Regent Park than I’ve ever seen before. I assume it’s due to people feeding the pigeons, plus the new high rises giving places for the hawks to base. I always like to see the hawks with a pigeon in hand.
SubHuman
Active Member
Not necessarily related to people intentionally feeding them, but I had not heard of this before today.
https://www.insauga.com/1000-nuisan...nd-oakville-will-soon-be-shipped-out-of-town/
Could something like this be done with pigeons? I would think pigeons (and FWIW, European Starlings and House Sparrows), as introduced species, are less protected by regulations than Canada Geese. But it's difficult to believe much would be accomplished other than a brief temporary reduction in their numbers.
https://www.insauga.com/1000-nuisan...nd-oakville-will-soon-be-shipped-out-of-town/
Could something like this be done with pigeons? I would think pigeons (and FWIW, European Starlings and House Sparrows), as introduced species, are less protected by regulations than Canada Geese. But it's difficult to believe much would be accomplished other than a brief temporary reduction in their numbers.
afransen
Senior Member
I don't see why pigeons etc. shouldn't just be culled. I think moving pigeons out of town would be highly ineffective. I am skeptical that moving geese would work any better, as they famously are quite adept at finding their way to the same place every year.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
The best fix for geese is to introduce their natural predators, like mink, foxes, snapping turtles, hawks and snakes. The only reason we see too many geese is that food and safety are too easily had.
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SubHuman
Active Member
SubHuman
Active Member
On a related topic of people not understanding what type of food is suitable for particular wild birds, there's apparently been a problem in Colonel Samuel Smith Park, where there is an area with many nest boxes for Tree Swallows. It seems some people were leaving bird food (seeds) near or even on top of the nest boxes, and they had to put up a sign telling people why they shouldn't. Swallows eat insects, not seeds. And the seeds attract House Sparrows that attack the swallows, their nestlings and eggs (along with other native birds, particularly ones that build their nests in tree cavities and nest boxes).
https://thebackyardnaturalist.com/wordpress/resources/eliminate-house-sparrows/
From what I've read and seen, that might be one of those subtle differences in attitudes north and south of the border. There was somewhat of an uproar here just over the practice of putting mineral oil on eggs of Canada Geese (to help cut down on their overpopulation) and Mute Swans (to help encourage the native Trumpeter Swans to replace them), so I would assume culling non-native or problem birds would cause an even higher level of indignation from those inclined to complain about it being inhumane.
https://www.waterloochronicle.ca/ne...cle_18a61f6a-4968-52df-8dd8-3c20bb6653ac.html
Relating to the above mention of House Sparrows attacking and displacing native cavity-nesting birds (warning: this links to YouTube video some may find disturbing), in recent decades the population of Eastern Bluebirds has been steadily making a comeback in the U.S., largely because of people placing nest boxes in appropriate habitats. But the campaign has, from what I can see, failed to gain attention in Canada, possibly because it involves trapping and exterminating House Sparrows. Retailers that sell bird feeders and wild bird food in the U.S. also sell House Sparrow traps, but I've never heard of that here. I assume laws here probably restrict trapping to those authorized by some authority, yet I've noticed no one removes House Sparrow nests from the Purple Martin houses in High Park, when presumably there would be some kind of wildlife manager(s) who could.
Not in highly urbanized locations, but Bluebirds now are somewhat common in nearby states in meadow-type of habitats near farms and even golf courses. Despite the fact that southern Ontario is part of their range, I have never seen one and neither has anyone I've asked. (I usually had to point out Blue Jays are not Bluebirds, and once that Bluebirds are real and not mythical Disney cartoon birds. And one woman seemed appalled that people would be "killing the little brown birds just because they're not as pretty as the blue ones".)
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lenaitch
Senior Member
I live in the country and the number of Eastern Bluebirds I have seen in my life is probably in the teens. I do see occasionally see nesting boxes on fence posts along rural roads. I wasn't aware of the House Sparrow problem.