In spite of recent social media musings to the contrary, there are no plans afoot with City of Powell River to ban the feeding of birds.
In a post on Facebook, a local resident stated that City of Powell River Council wants to rewrite the animal control bylaw, effectively stopping all feeding of birds, including small song birds on residents’ home properties. The post goes on to say that only hummingbirds will be exempt.
City corporate officer Chris Jackson said there are no proposed changes to the bylaw and the social media post is not true.
“We’ve received no direction from the committee of the whole or from city council, and staff have not come up with this idea to bring forward either,” said Jackson. “The only things we have right now for animal control are the numbers of chickens and how to define dangerous dogs and aggressive dogs.”
Jackson said people can have bird feeders. The only thing in the bylaw about birds generally is feeding the pigeons, he said.
“That’s been in there from what I understand for quite a while,” said Jackson. “There is a fine for feeding pigeons but we’ve never done that.”
