A wildlife feeding by-law is now in place for Bracebridge.
Michael Mayer, Chief By-Law Officer, explained during the Dec. 5 General Committee meeting that an education-first approach will be taken. If all else fails, the fine has been set at $200.
“If we’re seeing that the feeding is causing a nuisance through the definitions in the by-law then our officers will go and investigate based on a reactive basis,” he said.
Mayer pointed out that specific animals are not mentioned in the by-law.
“If our officers get called to a beach area and there is a bird being fed and it’s one group of birds […] and they’re fed, the food is all gone, that’s not a nuisance,” he added. “If there’s a hundred birds coming to that feeding area and they’re walking across the roadway and causing a traffic issue, a public safety issue, that’s when we’re looking at the potential it’s causing a nuisance.”
Mayer said as they move forward with the by-law, a public awareness campaign will be done, noting the town makes a social media post every Tuesday highlighting certain by-laws.
The by-law was approved by council on Dec. 13 allowing staff to move forward with implementing it.
The idea was first introduced in June, however, councillors were hesitant to move forward without more information, notably consultation with residents.
As part of the extra work done by staff, a survey was done to get feedback on the then-proposed by-law. Mayer wrote in his report to committee that 176 people responded with 43 percent and 17 percent saying they do or occasionally feed wildlife. Asked if they were concerned about people feeding wildlife in Bracebridge, 40 percent said no and 36 percent said yes, while 46 percent were supportive of banning the practice on public and private property with 38 percent being against the idea.
Mayer added in his report that in the past five months, by-law officers have seen an increased amount of calls about people feeding wildlife, notably 15 times when officers were called about “sightings and aggressive” animal encounters.
