Is It Illegal to Feed Racoons in Ohio
DEAR JOAN: I was reading a letter in your column last week about the bald squirrel, and I want to relay some additional info to you.
I was wondering if you knew that it was in fact illegal to feed wildlife? It was hard to tell from the picture, but the species in question might also be an invasive and nonnative species, which we would also be concerned about the public maintaining.
State law reads: "Except as otherwise authorized in these regulations or in the Fish and Game Code, no person shall harass, herd or drive any game or nongame bird or mammal or fur-bearing mammal. For the purposes of this section, harass is defined as an intentional act that 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."
Dr. Niamh Quinn
UC Cooperative Extension
DEAR DR. QUINN: Thanks so much your letter. I had seen that section of the law cited before as proof that it is illegal to feed squirrels, but to be honest, I thought it was in reference to hunting regulations against baiting.
I know there are laws against feeding large mammals, including deer, but surely the state wasn't saying that you couldn't feed squirrels and birds in your own backyard.
Turns out I was wrong.
"I spoke to a game warden" said Andrew Hughan, public information officer with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, "and the regulation you cited applies to backyard feeding — anything that disrupts the animals normal behavior, and getting nuts from a person is clearly not normal behavior."
So, are the thousands of people with backyard bird feeders and squirrel-feeding stations going to be ticketed?
Not likely, Hughan said, unless it's "some egregious thing, but we strongly encourage people not to help wildlife, especially in a drought."
I completely understand that the more we allow wildlife to be wild, the better off they are. Providing food and water makes the animals more dependent on humans.
Encouraging one population of animals also means you also are attracting other creatures that feed on those animals to move into urbanized areas, which is never good.
Large populations of creatures living in proximity to each other also can lead to the spread of disease among those species and others that come in contact with them. Every year we have outbreaks of avian illnesses spread through backyard feeders.
There also is no denying that many nonnative species are having a negative impact on the natives. The Eastern fox squirrel is pushing out the native gray squirrel, red-eared slider turtles are outeating the native Western pond turtles, and so on.
However, birds and squirrels have become so much a part of the urban and suburban landscape that anyone who has trees that produce fruit, nuts and seeds, as well as vegetable gardens and ornamental plants, are feeding wildlife.
It's difficult to put the genie back in the bottle, and at this point, it might be unwise to try. But we all can be more mindful of the need to let animals make their own way with as little involvement from us as possible.
Contact Joan Morris at jmorris@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow her at Twitter.com/AskJoanMorris.
Source: https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/10/15/feeding-wildlife-including-birds-is-against-the-law/
0 Response to "Is It Illegal to Feed Racoons in Ohio"
Post a Comment