BY RICK NEBEL
Los Alamos

“For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” –H. L. Mencken

When you mis-diagnose what your problem is, chances are pretty good that you aren’t going to solve it. I doubt that the presence of wildlife in Los Alamos is the result of people feeding wildlife. There are so many other sources of food in Los Alamos (golf course, lawns, gardens, fruit trees, etc.) that it is hard to imagine that feeding wildlife has much of an impact.

The one thing that the increase in wildlife does correlate with is the fires. As noted by the Game and Fish people, there has been an increase in the deer herd in Northern, New Mexico as a result of the fires. That clearly isn’t the fault of the citizens of Los Alamos.

To a certain extent, this ordinance is a moot point. The Department of Game and Fish intends to enforce it whether it passes or not. They’ve already been out threatening people even though feeding wildlife is not a violation of state law. 

I suspect that the County Council is going to pass this ordinance regardless of what anyone thinks. I think that if this ordinance does not eliminate the wildlife problem in one year, then we should hold the County Councilors accountable.