BY DR. KEN WERLY
Los Alamos
Editor’s note: The Los Alamos Reporter has not fact-checked this letter which was previously published by the Los Alamos Daily Post and submitted to the Reporter Monday, January 21.
Human feeding of wildlife can be defined as humans placing ediblematerial where wildlife has access to it.
A ban of feeding wildlife in Los Alamos would make the County of Los Alamos the biggest violator:
* The biggest violators by food volume are the golf course, County Parks ball fields, cemetery, and school grounds. They feed (by fertilizing and heavy watering) many flocks of birds, herds of deer, pocket gophers, coyotes and many insects daily.
* Ashley Pond feeds many varieties of wildlife including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and insects.
* County street lights attract flying insects that feed bats.
* The County garbage collection system feeds wildlife, including County trash cans that are put out the night before collection.* Even the County Nature Center would violate proposed
wildlife feeding Prohibitions by feeding birds, mammals, arachnids, amphibians and fish.
Most homeowners would be in violation:
* Most fruit trees would be in violation because 1 tree can drop thousands of pieces of fruit and tens of thousands of leaves that attract and feed wildlife. Over 80% of my neighbors have fruit trees that are a huge wildlife feeding source. Wildlife feed on fruit trees from early spring (flowers and new leaves), through late spring (immature fruit blown off of trees), through summer and fall (ripe fruit), through late fall (fallen leaves) and over the winter (insects).
* Flowers and gardens would be in violation of feeding moths, bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other pollinators as well as attracting mammals.
* There are hundreds of residences that manage their yards for wildlife (including food) under the National Wildlife Federation and Federal USDA Programs for Residential Yards and Gardens that manage yards for wildlife habitat.
Even Bird feeders attract both feathered and furry feeders.
* Many birds prefer ground feeding.
* Bird feeder birds knock much seed from the feeder onto the ground.
* When large flocks of birds come to a feeder, only a handful fit on the feeder and the remainder forage on the ground.
Any uneven enforcement of wildlife feeding prohibitions would invite
lawsuits. Certainly the County would have to be cited every day
at many locations as the biggest violator.
NM Department of Game and Fish (DGF) Officer Tyler Carter has already instituted a personal policy against feeding wildlife in Los Alamos. Officer Carter unfairly vilifies and blames wildlife for wildlife “incidents”. He harasses, threatens and intimidates people at their homes who have been reported as feeding wildlife (over 30 sites).
He alienates people who love wildlife and he declares (May 2024 quotes): “The deer in town, the mountain lions, and the bears are all nuisance animals.” and “No house in town will
be feeding deer!” He uses this personal declaration of all animals being a nuisance to subvert the NM law that it is legal to feed wildlife in New Mexico. He has enforced this policy since at least May 2024, and his policy has failed miserably over the subsequent 9 months in that the deer numbers have increased and the number of wildlife incidents has also risen. Because his (State) policies have failed, he is now lobbying the County Council for (Local) laws to adopt his failed negative approach.
The DGF was a much more likable agency when it restricted itself to recommending human/wildlife interactions rather than blaming wildlife and harassing and criminalizing residential behavior. If Carter wanted to entice deer out of the town of Los Alamos, he would be better off improving the forest habitat that his fellow governmental mis-managers destroyed. He could replant the forest. He could even plant fruit trees and build a golf course outside of the town boundary.
Perhaps the County Council can learn from DGF’s mistakes. Please vote against the Los Alamos County proposed Code Ordinance prohibiting the Feeding of Wildlife.
The County has existed for decades without such restrictions. The proposed rule would make Los Alamos a worse place to reside.