Phoenix bans feeding pigeons

PHOENIX – At a city council meeting on Wednesday, officials voted in favor of a new ordinance that bans the feeding of pigeons. 

According to the ordinance, this request came after a series of resident complaints. 

The city had previously monitored the keeping of pigeons, but will now watch over the feeding as well. The city of Tempe passed a ban against feeding pigeons just last year. 

The ordinance will only be enforced after they receive three complaints from three separate households in regard to someone having fed pigeons. This way they will know the requests are genuine. 

It goes deeper than pigeons being annoying. According to the ordinance:

When left unaddressed, the practice of regularly feeding pigeons can lead to unhealthy accumulations of feces, damage to vehicles and property, and significant increases in local pigeon populations roosting on neighboring houses and structures.

This is classified as a class one misdemeanor and has fines of $150-2500.