Llandudno's Seagull Problem

[SteveH]

Conwy Council won't fine seagull feeders because it may offend 'religions'

People who encourage scavenging seagulls won’t be fined – because it might offend religions.
A local authority had considered seeking powers to punish those who contributed to the scourge of gulls in its seaside towns.
But the Daily Post has learned Conwy council shelved the plan after being advised it might conflict with the rights of people with certain religious beliefs.
It appears other councils on the North Wales coast are unwilling to legislate against those feeding and encouraging gulls to come closer to human sources of food.

A spokeswoman for Anglesey council said: “Anglesey council has not considered fixed penalties to people who feed seagulls, as we wouldn’t have the staffing to ensure the legislation is enforced.”

In Flintshire seagulls are not deemed a big enough problem, and in Gwynedd they believe dealing with the root cause of the problems with gulls is the way forward but are not legislating against those who feed them directly.
A spokesman said: “The matter has been discussed by members of the full council with a report which included a number of possible options on the control of gulls considered by members.

“Members decided that the council should continue to provide information to property owners/occupiers on actions they can take to stop attracting gulls into towns and villages.”

Conwy’s head of tourism and leisure, Jim Jones, revealed the council’s stance in a Tweet in which the subject of fining those who feed seagulls was raised.
The Tweet read: “We looked at the issue of fines, but were told it’s the right to feed birds within some religions!”
We asked Conwy Council to confirm whether this was the case. A spokeswoman said: “There isn’t a bylaw regarding the feeding of seagulls although we do actively discourage it.”
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/conwy-seagull-feeders-fine-religions--9695758

[born2run]

 

What religion practices feeding Seagulls exactly?

[Bosun]

I don't know about seagulls exactly, Indian Hindu's feed all animals and the Parsi are amongst other religions including Vajrayana Buddhism that feed their dead to vultures, considerately cutting the bodies up into bite sized pieces for them.

Does Jim Jones advocate this in Conwy?

[SteveH]

What religion practices feeding Seagulls exactly?

A council spokeswoman added: “There isn’t a bylaw regarding the feeding of seagulls although we do actively discourage it.”
While the right to feed seagulls is not spelled out by any specific religions several including Judaism and Hinduism encourage believers to take care for animals.   REFWales on line

[Ian]

the Parsi are amongst other religions including Vajrayana Buddhism that feed their dead to vultures,

There's good reason for that. Vultures assimilate toxins and excrete harmless compounds of those toxins. But most importantly, Vultures totally consume a corpse.  It's a complex subject, but Zarathushtra had a lot to do with the tradition which actually makes a lot of sense.

[Bosun]

the Parsi are amongst other religions including Vajrayana Buddhism that feed their dead to vultures,

.................. which actually makes a lot of sense.

In Llandudno............? 

[Bri Roberts]

A council spokeswoman added: “There isn’t a bylaw regarding the feeding of seagulls although we do actively discourage it.”
 

Is that correct?

[SteveH]

A council spokeswoman added: “There isn’t a bylaw regarding the feeding of seagulls although we do actively discourage it.”
 

Is that correct?

Hi Bri, the sign does not say "feeding the Gulls" is an offence, but littering including foodstuffs is......same difference I suppose.

[Ian]

    the Parsi are amongst other religions including Vajrayana Buddhism that feed their dead to vultures,
.. which actually makes a lot of sense.

In Llandudno............?  _))

Well. perhaps not  but I suppose we could resort to the Norse traditions of floating burials... Could be a new use for the Pier, I suppose...

[SteveH]

Seagull fightback begins as Conwy council introduces bye-law to crack down on feeders

TOWN HALL bosses are to bring in tough measures to crack down on people who feed seagulls in a big to tackle the
Conwy council say they will introduce the law by the end of the year to ban the feeding of the birds on Llandudno's North Shore.
This week, the Daily Post highlighted how people were coming under attack from gulls, who were swooping to steal their food.

The council up to then had not sought powers to stop people encouraging the birds by feeding them, and a senior official suggested that the reason there was no enforcement power was because the council was afraid of upsetting people whose religion encourages them to feed birds.
Conwy Council won't fine seagull feeders because it may offend 'religions'

But today, Conwy has told the Post that officers are now working to draft a bye-law which will mean they can punish residents and tourists who give the birds food.
"The Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Act 2012 came into effect on 31 March 2015 and allows local authorities a quicker process for introducing byelaws. Officers are in the process of drafting a byelaw to prohibit the feeding of seagulls on North Shore, Llandudno, this should be finalised later this year."
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/seagulls-conwy-council-religion-bye-law--9706365

[SteveH]

USA faith leader steps into row with Conwy council over 'religious freedom' to feed seagulls

Conwy council has found itself embroiled in an unlikely row with one of the world’s most prominent Hindu faith leaders over its plans to fine people who feed seagulls.
Rajan Zed, a leading Hindu statesman from Nevada, USA, said he was disappointed that the council had decided to punish people who feed birds, which in his religion play an important role, with many deities taking the form of birds.
Mr Zed - who is so well known in America he is listed in Who’s Who? - suggested Conwy council was at odds with the right to religious freedom.
Mr Zed said “introducing ban on feeding birds would be blatantly disregarding the sentiments of some communities”.
According to the last census, there are around 250 Hindus living in the county of Conwy.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/conwy-seagulls-hindu-religious-freedom-9721118

[DVT]

Has the world gone mad?  It seems OK for a seagull to attack humans and animals but try and stop them and there's outrage from all sorts of sects.

My wife and feed the birds - the small ones in our garden.  The food has to be put into cages that are inaccessible to the larger birds - pigeons and seagulls being the biggest nuisance as they also get into the house if the back door is left open, and into the garage to steal our rabbit's food (he lives in the garage and the door is left open for him to have free access of the back garden!).

My garden pond has a cage over it as we caught a seagull actually taking live fish last year - I didn't think they did that until I saw it happen with my own eyes.

It needs a cull on seagulls - they are nothing more than flying rats, and you're perfectly OK to put down poison to "feed" them without fear of breaking the law.

I don't see the point of fining people for feeding them - who is going to police that, or wil it be the same people that currently police litter-throwing?  They seem to be well-qualified at catching people.

[Hugo]

I feed the birds every day and don't discriminate which birds I do feed,  but I only feed them in my back garden.     The Council do not make by laws just for the sake of it,  so I respect their rules and abide by them.
If  the Council was scared of offending a very tiny minority of people then they would never make any rules whatsoever and that would in turn offend the vast majority of people.
The UK is a very tolerant nation but sometimes the views of the majority of the population should not be undermined by those of a tiny percentage of the population.

[TheMedz]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z-6l-905zD0/



Not very helpful in sorting out the problem but I found this amusing.

[born2run]

It needs a cull on seagulls - they are nothing more than flying rats, and you're perfectly OK to put down poison to "feed" them without fear of breaking the law.

Do you poison Seagulls?