Los Alamos Reporter

LTE: All People In Los Alamos County Will Be Criminals Starting November 2025

BY DR. KEN WERLEY
Los Alamos

Editor’s note: Please see response below from County Council Chair Theresa Cull

The Los Alamos County Council just passed an ordinance making the feeding of wildlife illegal. This ordinance is so poorly thought through that it applies to all wildlife (including insects) and it does not specify any volume limit on the amount of food or time limit on how long the food is available.

Ordinance definition of feeding: “Give, PLACE, expose, deposit. distribute or scatter ANY EDIBLE MATERIAL which is intended for consumption by wild animals.”

Examples of wildlife feeding:

  • anyone bitten by a mosquito;
  • a residence with houseflies or roaches;
  • a rosebush with aphids;
  • dog poop left lying around sufficiently long for a fly to land on it;
  • any pet with fleas or ticks;
  • any person who sheds hair or skin cells; and
  • any child who drops food crumbs.

The County Council considers this criminalization of its people okay because they have left enforcement up to the County Police Chief who has stated (County Council Mtg. 9/30/2025) he will only go after (issue citations to) large scale offenders such as someone spreading a bag of oats. (How about a bag of grass seed?) Leaving enforcement up to the discretion of the police is quite dangerous.
 
Let us consider large scale feeders of wildlife.

  • Los Alamos County is the biggest feeder by volume by MANY ORDERS of MAGNITUDE, this includes:
    • Ashley Pond, the Nature Center, and the Ski Hill.
    • County gardens and fruit trees.
    • County-maintained lands: all parks, ball fields, school grounds, golf course, cemetery …
      (Heavy fertilizing and watering feeds insects, worms, gophers, rabbits, weasels, ravens, crows, coyotes, deer…)
    • County streetlights feed bats.
    • Spreading of salt material on winter streets attracts wildlife onto streets

Will the Police Chief issue citations for these major violators of the ordinance? Shouldn’t the  Council members be held responsible for openly authorizing and funding activities that violate the laws that they passed?

Consider residences:

  • Every house with a yard or garden or fruit tree provides much more edible material than a bag of oats.
  • Non-fruit trees also provide much food for wildlife.
  • Bird feeders not only feed songbirds (an Ordinance exception) but also feed mice, chipmunks, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, hawks, owls, and bear – all criminal violations on a large scale.
  • Well over 150 houses in the county have signs up openly declaring themselves as Wildlife Habitats (feeders) as part of various national programs.

County residents and County employees are all well aware that they are feeding wildlife (and that it used to be legal).
 
It appears that the NM Department of Game and Fish has bamboozled the County Council by getting the County to assume responsibility for managing wildlife, even though NMDGF is responsible for wildlife management in the rest of the state. Also, they have gotten the County Council to ban the feeding of all wildlife (legal in the rest of the State of NM) while including an exception for feeding by baiting animals. This exception is not because baiting is a safer interaction between humans and wildlife, but rather because fishing and hunting license sales provides a major source of funding for NMDGF. The whole arrangement is nauseating and disgusting.

I greatly resent the Council making my friends and I criminals.

The County Council should immediately remove this Ordinance 02-373.

Mr. Werley,

On behalf of County Council, I thank you for your comments on the recently-approved Wildlife Feeding Ordinance. I disagree with your conclusion that you and your friends will automatically be criminals as a result of this ordinance. And I disagree with your assertion that this ordinance was poorly thought through. The ordinance was first discussed in 2024 and has had several iterations based on feedback from Game and Fish, wildlife experts, community member comments, and review of other community ordinances. It applies to the intentional feeding of wild animals as defined in the ordinance and that is how it will be enforced. You and your friends can rest assured that the examples of wildlife feeding that  you provided in your email are not the focus of this ordinance.

Theresa Cull