Question: A neighbor continually feeds animals in the morning. I see mongooses and other animals feeding, besides birds. There is a lot of bird poop in the driveway and garage area. Isn’t there a law against that?

Question: My neighbor feeds wild birds regularly, in large quantities, in his yard. The birds wait in droves for the feeding, nesting on my property and pooping all over my car and patio furniture. Can anything be done?

Answer: Despite a state law passed in 2013 making it illegal to feed feral birds if it becomes a public nuisance, nothing can be done to stop the feeders.

So says the state Department of Health, charged with enforcing a law it maintains is unenforceable.

It is a position the DOH has maintained since the so-called "bird poop law" took effect in July 2013 (see bit.ly/1xRdqAv).

"The DOH no longer addresses residential bird-feeding complaints due to the lack of any meaningful enforcement criteria," said Environmental Health Program Manager Peter Oshiro.

Basically, he said, the Legislature passed an "ineffective/defective law."

That law "gave the public a false sense that the Legislature passed a bird-feeding ban, which (it) did not,"

Oshiro said. It "did not change the fact that the legal definition of a ‘nuisance’ under (the existing) nuisance law is defined as a situation that ‘tends to or causes sickness or disease.’" As much as it might cause a mess and is unsightly, "The act of being around bird droppings as the result of neighbors feeding feral birds does not cause sickness or disease."

He said employees who work all day among bird droppings, such as at egg farms, pet stores and aviaries, are at no more risk than anyone else in contracting illnesses or diseases.

To enforce the law, the DOH would have to determine what amount of bird poop would tend to cause sickness or disease, Oshiro said.

"Our Disease Investigation Branch has not reported any diseases being contracted by Hawaii’s population due to exposure to bird droppings," he said.

He also said that no public health jurisdiction nationwide has been able to establish how many birds are too many to feed.

"If we set a limit, what is the public health rationale for allowing 100 birds but not 105 birds?" he said.

With essentially no answer, "politicians must have the political courage to simply ban the feeding in residential neighborhoods in the same fashion that bird feeding is banned around the (Honolulu) Zoo area and (city) parks," Oshiro said. "The bird-feeding ban has been shown to be extremely effective in eliminating feral birds around the zoo."

He said the original bill dealing with bird feeding, introduced by state Rep. Gregg Takayama, had the "correct enabling legislation." That bill simply banned the feeding of feral birds and would have been "easy to enforce," he said.

But Takayama said the current law should be sufficient.

"We don’t need a new law," he countered. "We need the Health Department to enforce the current law by imposing fines on those who ignore warning letters issued by health inspectors."

Furthermore, banning bird feeding "is unrealistic because it would apply to occasional backyard feeders and not just excessive feeders who create nuisances for neighbors," he said.

He also said places such as Bangor, Maine, and Albuquerque, N.M., "have been enforcing laws against excessive bird feeding for years."

No enforcement

After the law was passed, Oshiro said there was "a small flurry of demands" that action be taken against bird feeders.

Inspectors were sent to verify the feeding did not result in conditions that were injurious or dangerous to public health, he said.

Officials from both the Health Department and the attorney general’s office met with Rep. Cynthia Thielen and Takayama, whose constituents were demanding action, he said.

Although Oshiro said it was agreed that the DOH’s response would be limited to sending letters to the bird feeders, Takayama said he and Thielen both "feel they should be more aggressive beyond just sending a letter. … It’s frustrating."

Oshiro said about a dozen letters were sent.

At this point, "We continue to receive a few complaints a month, and complainants are told we will not respond," he said. With only one vector control inspector for the entire island of Oahu, "we cannot respond to complaints that have little public health significance."

Asked whether he planned to revisit the law during the upcoming legislative session, Takayama said, "If we need to amend the law to make it more clearly instructive to the Department of Health, then we will. My personal feeling is that the (current) law should be adequate if there was a commitment on the part of health inspectors to carry it out."

———
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.