Editor:
It's time we have a candid conversation about illegal food waste and the feeding of urbanized animals.
I've lived in the Edmonds neighbourhood for a decade and have come to see the rodents and pigeons that I regularly encounter, nearly all of which are non-native to North America, as an inevitable part of living in an urban centre.
This being said, I've been discouraged to see how prevalent the intentional feeding of urbanized animals is in my neighbourhood. Yesterday I walked to the basketball court at Edmonds Park to get some pre-work exercise, and what did I encounter? Someone had dumped a load of fried takeaway all over the court, directly beneath one of the hoops. This rendered half the court entirely useless. Last week it was a pile of dried rice in the same place. Meanwhile, an abandoned lot on nearby Mary and Edmonds is the daily dumping ground for bread by locals. As a result it is continually occupied by a swarm of pigeons, and at dusk you can see several rats eating the scraps in broad site of any passerby.
As all this is going on, many residents are noticing that rodent sightings and issues are increasing in the neighbourhood. Pest control experts have told me this is presumably due to the ongoing demolishing of old homes/buildings, but I can't help but wonder what the role of illegal food waste is in this increase. Mice became such an issue in our house last year that professional intervention was required. This begs the question of why and how are people permitted to contribute to this problem, when it clearly is detrimental to the well-being of residents?
I don't know what the solution is, whether it is through hefty fines, video cameras, public shaming, or some kind of a public forum. But something needs to change, as recklessly throwing food waste into an urban neighbourhood effects the quality of life for everyone.
Daniel Stewart, Burnaby
