Taiwan Quick Take: Bird feeders face fines
Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006, Page 3
The public should avoid feeding pigeons and other wild birds in Taipei’s parks and other open spaces or risk being fined up to NT$6,000 (US$185), the Taipei City Government’s Department of Environmental Protection said yesterday. Environmental officials said that March and April are high-risk periods for the spread of avian influenza, and as such people should try to avoid close contact with wild birds. Those who feed pigeons and other wild birds in Taipei’s parks, plazas and other open spaces will be given a warning for the first offense. If they ignore the warning and continue to feed the birds, they face a fine of up to NT$6,000, the officials said. The officials indicated that although the nation is free of bird flu, the threat of a pandemic still exists, especially during this month and next. They said they had stepped up patrols in Taipei’s parks and plazas since Feb. 16 and have issued six warnings.
Very sensible approach, this.
Let’s just ignore the countless chicken, duck, and goose farms. Not to mention the pigeon lofts on every other rooftop.
The cops will no doubt ping a few hapless punters for feeding the park fauna before swaggering back to the station to pat each other on the back and have a nice hot cuppa tea.
Crisis? What crisis?
Let me get this right, the EPA will fine you 6000 for feeding for feeding birds but it is ok to cough up a lung oyster and spit it on the floor of an MRT or pull all the garbage out of your car and set it onfire beside the road?
Jesus Christ ! It is like a bad joke over and over
What’s the deal here on feeding wild birds from the safety of your own home? Now that we’ve got a wee bit of a garden, I was thinking of sorting out a bird table. You know the deal, nuts, crumbs, water, vodka (fridays only). Nothing too heavy, to disrupt their natural feeding sources, just a small alternative to what’s on offer in the pesticide-soaked fields. Is there a culture here of feeding wild birds, am I going to hit the local pet-shop and find they can supply all of my needs here?
I’m thinking, not, and it will have to be a d.i.y. mission.
It’s not the done thing here. Much preferred is to catch and cage the poor things. So you won’t have an easy time finding bird tables, bird baths, bird feeders and the suchlike, but you should be able to find some food, though do check with the experts what captive-bird food is good for wild birds.
I’ve thought about doing the same but not sure if it’s a good idea to get local birds dependent on me as a food source as I will leave one day and can’t imagine the next tenant will follow on with the feeding.
The pet shops stock wild bird food, I have some. I made a feeder with a coke bottle and hanger, but no birds come to my place, think are scared of the cats.
That’s important - make sure it’s in a safe place! We put some nuts out for the birds in our apple tree, but we realised the rats from the river were eating them on their way to the half-grown apples, and next door’s fearsome predator, Mr Tiffin, was spending hours on the shed roof waiting for rats and birds to come his way. Nothing needs to be added to the circle of life going on in my garden …
I don’t know. I get dozens of birds around my windows and on the rooftop every day: bulbuls, drongoes, magpies, sparrows. I let my cats up and the birds just look down on them from the wires and water tank and twitter. The cats for their part get to practise their low-belly crouch and feel they at least trying to bring something to the table in my household.
I went to an international birdwatching event in Taiwan and asked at all the Taiwanese stalls where I could buy nesting boxes or feeding platforms, or kits or plans to make them. They actually had no idea what I was talking about.
There is a culture of catching wild birds, not feeding them. Then you bake them in a pie, or make a soup, or transport them all to Taipei (with most of them dying on the way) to be sold to temples to organise karma-enhancing “release the captive animals” feel-good sessions.
People feed cats, though. After other people have abandoned thousands of unwanted kittens.
Co-incidentally, this is the same amount that people in Taipei City will not be fined for allowing their airconditioners to drip water onto the streets.
I would have thought with the number of cats roaming around Taipei these days birds would no longer be a problem?
