Regarding the proposed criminalization of bird and squirrel feeders in NYC parks, Mayor deBlasio announced in a recent media interview that he supports the ban. This should surprise no one.
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In answer to the charge (and fact) that parks have cut down nut and fruit-bearing trees and plants in favor of non-native and ornamental flora (or in the case of the Central Park Reservoir, chopped down ALL surrounding foliage and trees; important food sources for water birds), the mayor said he "believes" there are enough food sources for animals, though he doesn't say what, nor does he deny the charge.
He is then quick to deflect the subject to rats, implying that it is the bird and squirrels feeders (not garbage) that are responsible for rats in parks.
The Mayor becomes defensive when addressing the charge of criminalization of feeders by trying to ensure there is not going to be a "draconian crackdown" on feeders, but rather a campaign to "discourage and educate."
While unlikely that busy NYC cops will be hauling people like 75-year-old cancer victim and bird feeder, Liliana Berezovschi to jail, the implication that feeders are stupid, responsible for rats and uneducated is insulting. Ms. Berezovschi has two Masters Degrees.
The blaming and scapegoating of bird and squirrel feeders for problems in parks may not result in jail sentences, but it opens these mostly older and defenseless people to harassment and bullying by self-appointed "vigilantes" and park rangers -- which has already happened.
In many ways, city parks have become intimidating environments for senior citizens who have to navigate and dodge speeding bicycles, marathon runners and crowds. But now add "discouragement and education" (i.e. bullying) should they toss some bread or nuts to hungry birds or squirrels and it is obvious that city parks and the Mayor do not welcome the elderly and the disabled any more than they welcome birds and squirrels.
(Raccoons, swans and geese are already gone or quickly disappearing from most city parks.)
Some have argued that city parks don't get enough funding from the city to adequately clean up the garbage which, in truth, attracts rats.
But parks receive millions of dollars in donations. Donations that support all kinds of "Special Events" in parks, from concerts to sporting events, to food fests to fireworks displays. The fundraiser Central Park Conservancy recently sent out didn't even mention lack of funding from the city.
This issue is not about funding, pigeons (which are mostly in city streets, not parks) or even garbage and rats.
It IS about a starvation campaign against city park wildlife as well as an intimidation campaign against the city's most vulnerable and defenseless citizens -- the elderly, the disabled, the poor and even children, many of whom enjoy "duck feeding" in parks.
In answer to the question of how city park wildlife can survive without supplemental food support from humans, one supporter of the park proposal (Audubon representative) answered, "The birds and squirrels can go to Long Island to find food resources."
And that is what the Mayor and city parks really want:
An emptying of virtually all but token few of city park wildlife.
Maybe the city's elderly, poor and disabled who are empathetic with animals should follow that mass exodus of squirrels over the Tri-Borough bridge as they are apparently not welcomed either.
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