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Mesa Passes Ban On Feeding Wild Birds

The city of Mesa has passed a ban on feeding wild birds. The City Council voted unanimously Monday night in favor of changing Mesa’s nuisance code.

Mesa resident Richard Urnberg spoke to the council about the high number of pigeons that linger on his street. He said that’s a direct result of a neighbor feeding those birds and he handed out photos. 

“As you can see, there’s probably 60, 70 pigeons on the roof," Urnberg said. "This has been going on for quite a while now. As a matter of fact, if you Google that address, you’ll find no less than 20 pigeons in the front yard.” 

Urnberg said without an official city rule, he’s had difficulty getting anyone to deal with the problem.

“We don’t know who to contact to try and deal with this," Urnberg said. "We keep hearing that the pigeons aren’t handled or you know we need to try and reach somewhere else or we have to call a private company to deal with this and this is just — it started with a handful and they just keep growing and growing.” 

Phoenix and Tempe previously put in place their own bird-feeding bans. A few  other changes were also made to the code, like allowing people to temporarily park recreational vehicles and watercraft in their driveways to clean, load and unload them.

Senior field correspondent Bridget Dowd has a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.