Council OKs wildlife feeding ban

After months of discussion, the Eugene City Council has approved a ban on feeding some wildlife to try to clamp down on the city’s growing rat and wild turkey populations.

The new nuisance code ordinance was approved on a 6-2 vote during a marathon council meeting Monday night.

The ban applies to both intentional feeding of wild animals and storing food or garbage in a way that could attract them. Targeted animals include raccoons, deer, cougars, bears, coyotes and even wolves — in addition to rats and wild turkeys. The ban doesn’t apply, however, to feral cats or stray dogs, or any other birds.

Citizen education “is not enough,” Councilor Chris Pryor said. “We are overrun with turkeys. Their numbers are growing out of control. The problem is not just going to go away through education.”

He added that the ordinance was necessary to get the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to trap and remove wild turkeys in Eugene, since the agency will do so only in response to complaints that violate cities’ nuisance codes.

The approved ordinance also includes language clarifying that the city code prohibits open storage of compost, garbage or animal waste or allowing vegetation to overgrow if they attract rats or other rodents.

Backers of the policy have identified the chicken coops, compost piles and backyard gardens around Eugene as one driving force in the growth of the city’s rat population since at least last year. In 2013, city councilors relaxed regulations for urban farming, allowing citizens to own up to six chickens and six chicks.

Councilor Emily Semple joined Councilor Betty Taylor in opposing the changes on Monday night. Semple said she didn’t like “using the stick first,” rather than urging city residents to work on the problem together.

Semple suggested that the city could instead buy a shipping container full of wooden rat traps and distribute them for free at every grocery store, community center and school. It could also buy rat birth control to be spread out like poison, a tactic that some big cities have tried.

“I think that would be a very Eugene thing to do,” she said. “Free love for rats.”

Violators of the new ordinance would be identified through citizen complaints. City officials then would visit and issue notices to correct if they identified an issue.

If the issue is not addressed within 10 days, the city then could start levying fines against violators, said Rachelle Nicholas, the city’s code compliance supervisor. City code also allows city staff members to potentially abate the issue themselves and charge the violators the full cost of doing so.

Taylor said that while she supports trapping turkeys to reduce their numbers in her south Eugene ward, she worried that the ordinance would “encourage neighbors to complain about neighbors.”

“There’s already enough of that going on,” she said.