Anyway, the bread bounty this morning was the most that we've seen in a really long time...
Monday, March 21, 2016
The morning bread dump in Tompkins Square Park
People continue to leave/dump bread for the pigeons (and rats and whatever other critters) on a daily basis in Tompkins Square Park. The Do Not Feed the Pigeons signs haven't been effective.
Anyway, the bread bounty this morning was the most that we've seen in a really long time...
Anyway, the bread bounty this morning was the most that we've seen in a really long time...
31 comments:
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I would love to catch the human trash that's doing it
ReplyDeleteC'mon man...
ReplyDeleteThere is a person who does this every night in the childrens area. She dumps all kinds of food out and the rats swarm to it. I confronted her once and she flew into a rage. I see her there all the time and the park staff do nothing about it. And people wonder why there's a rat problem. There's a people problem. How to handle the crazies who do this?
ReplyDeletePigeons and Rats and Others have to eat too you know.
ReplyDeleteDiscrimination !
With all the police presence in the area, can't there be an early morning plain-clothes officer keeping an eye out for this? Obviously, I wouldn't normally say that a plain-clothes officer is warranted for something like this, but if we are going to have heavy police presence (which I am in favor of) let's use it.
ReplyDeleteFeed the Birds (tuppence a bag)
ReplyDeleteThe sign says "Do Not Feed the Pigeons", but it is actually illegal to feed pigeons or simply a public nuisance?
Pigeon feeders should be arrested, or at the very least fined.
ReplyDeletewhoever does this should be thrown in jail and locked up forever with a flock of pigeons
ReplyDeleteThere is a local ring of netters that drive around the city in a green van all day trapping pigeons in big nets. They put down birdseed or breadcrumbs and wait for a flock to start feeding. They can scoop up dozens of birds at a time. After netting the birds they run back to the green van and speed off to the next location with a hundreds of pigeons in crates in the back. They sell the pigeons for a few dollars apiece to shooting ranges in Pennsylvania where hunters get to shoot at and kill live birds. So which one do you prefer, the people feeding the birds or the people who trap them so they can be killed?
ReplyDeleteWow you people are MISERABLE Sometimes it's nice to feed a flock - maybe not tons of bread in the park but good Lord. Btw...not illegal to feed pigeons.
ReplyDeleteI agree. However, bread is just about the worst thing you can feed a bird for several reasons. This woman is unknowingly doing more harm than good.
Deletehaha heavy police presence needed for pigeon feeding...what has the EV come to with whining babies like this?
ReplyDelete"There is a local ring of netters"
ReplyDeleteI object to the devalueing term "netters" - why not just go all the way and call them squab-baggers - these legacy gatherers are doing a heroic duty to remove a filthy disgusting overpopulated animal. The State just won't take care of this public health issue. Instead, we have a layer of pigeon waste covering our parks so that they can't really be used. I wish they'd come get the flock behind the 5th St precinct, they cover everything behind the restaurants on 6th st with a white and green blotches. the mourning doves are ok.
wholewheat or multigrain?
ReplyDelete8:10 a filthy disgustng overpopulated animal huh? Says you. Some apply that description to humans. They are in the dove family, mate for life, raise their young as couples and ever hear of carrier pigeons? Come get the flock?? If I ever see anyone aid and abet these netters aka criminals I will be first to have them ARRESTED. Besides being disgustingly cruel, it is ILLEGAL to net wildlife
ReplyDeleteIt's not just crazy old ladies feeding rats in the park... There are a few people on my block who do it in front of their buildings. I once asked an older-middle-aged woman to stop because of the rats, and the way she cursed me out... Wow. Having grown up in catholic Eastern Europe, I appreciate that some people have a strong attachment to bread in particular, and would hate to throw it out, but there's gotta be a better way...
ReplyDeletehow easy it is to say "kill it" when something is in the way or considered disgusting, or over populated.
ReplyDeleteif that's the answer i choose the drunks, bros, and tourists.
My whole reason for cussing out these pigeon-feeders is that the more bread and other rat-attractive food the streets are littered with, the more rats the city will seek to kill, and will respond to the situation by putting more poison into the groundwater. This affects all of us.
ReplyDeleteIt's a last-ditch effort, as anyone who's attended the Rat University knows; the city tries to focus on rat-prevention, not rat-poisoning, but a successful effort depends on the participation of everyone, and we know not everyone's doing their share.
It is a big problem, particularly with the older pigeon-feeders, because for them, starving anything, even a rat, hits too close to home. I launched into my diatribe once with an older woman who spoke English, and she turned on me: "You've just never been hungry!" she spat.
Sometimes I just want to give up on people. They just don't get it.
Shouldn't confront these people as if they were rational. They are all mentally ill. They will always freak out and threaten to stab you, etc.
ReplyDeleteMaybe call 311, or rat hotline, or parks dept? I dunno. Seems it's just one of those things that nobody will ever solve.
The woman who feeds them is mentally ill to a scary extent. One evening when my eight-year-old and I walked into the bus shelter on Ave. A because we were 1) catching a bus and 2) getting out of the rain while doing so, we accidentally scattered the birds she was 'feeding' inside the shelter. Wow, was she terrifying--screaming invective and trying to kick me and my son. It took a lot of discussion afterward so my son wouldn't have nightmares about her that night. She may love the pigeons, but she sure does hate the humans!
ReplyDeleteIt is illegal to feed undomesticated animals in the five boroughs. As confirmed by the pro-pigeon commenters, people who feed pigeons care only about themselves and the enjoyment they gain from feeding the pigeons and rats, and do not care about their fellow human beings. They convince themselves they are moral exemplars while they cover benches in pigeon shit and breed rats that spread disease.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have stopped by the Parks office inside Tompkins Sq Park numerous times complaining about the bread drops for at least 10 years. Gallons of pasta are disgusting, but the worst was the cooked lamb head with eyes still in the sockets.
ReplyDeleteFolks, it is time to complain to Community Board 3. Complaints can be submitted anonymously.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb3/html/forms/service_complaint.shtml
CB3 acts when no one else will. It can also encourage law enforcement to do something about this.
Many thanks for publishing the photograph, EV Grieve. You are the best!
Anonymous said:
ReplyDeleteFolks, it is time to complain to Community Board 3. Complaints can be submitted anonymously.
Community Board Service Complaint Form
[for people like me who like to clicky-clicky]
Lastly, bread isn't good for birds. It isn't necessarily bad for them, as long as they have access to actually nutritive food, but as some commenters here have remarked, bird-feeders offering bread are only interested in fulfilling a need in themselves, and don't really care about the birds. (I think we knew that already.)
ReplyDeleteI12:06 t is not illegal to feed pigeons - please post the NYC ordinance saying so. And btw, no one is condoning giant heaps of bread,pasta and sickening lamb heads. And guess what? SOME people can care about humans and other animals on the planet at the same time - some sadly cannot.
ReplyDeleteOnce again for the cheap seats - it is legal with caveats. Try reading sometime - it's fundamental. http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2219/pigeon-droppings-or-odor-complaint
ReplyDeleteThe human feeding programs leave food, and their guests leave food, and some throw it to the wildlife. There is a lot of food being wasted.
ReplyDeleteThe feeding programs should relocate to indoor facilities with sanitation services.
If this is unenforceable, then they should serve food on plates at tables that get bused. What goes in goes out. That is the rule for all of us.
We need PEP to enforce. This is a health and safety issue.
[For impatient people, I'll make the link:]
ReplyDeletePigeon Droppings or Odor Complaint info
I just posted a CB3 complaint.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people on here have all day to spend in the park obviously :-)
ReplyDeleteThe CB got back to me. They are taking this issue seriously. What they need are specifics: times, places, perpetrators, patterns.
ReplyDelete