In the sleepy suburb of Smethwick, the very fabric of society has been breaking down. The irresponsible actions of a few threaten the entire community, and the local council has vowed to take action. “I am determined to do whatever it takes to clean up Sandwell,” said councillor Cooper, promising to spend further taxpayer’s money tackling the serious issue.
A young mother has been caught feeding ducks in the park with her 17-month old son.
Yes, feeding scraps of bread, to ducks, outside the designated area.
She was, of course, immediately intercepted by an alert council duck enforcement operative and fined on the spot £75. Her delinquent child, however, defiantly continued feeding the ducks even while the ticket was being written out. “He can carry on”, the operative said, “he’s too young to prosecute.” Too young to prosecute! Who ever heard of such a travesty?!
But that was not the end of the matter, for in total defiance of the principles of law and order, the mother declared openly that she would not pay the fine. You are fined in accordance with the law, therefore you must pay – whatever would happen to society if people didn’t? Why people would do what they wanted – without any controls or regulation – and they would just get away with it! But with utter disregard for the bedrock of social order, this mother – a mother to a child, for heavens sake! – has cast out all civilised convention and said “I do not intend to pay the fine. I am going to fight this to the end.”
What sort of example does that set to such a young lad?
What’s worse, it looks like she might get away with it, too. Simply because, she argues, there were no signs or other indications telling park-goers that fines could be imposed. Yes, that’s right. You walk into a park in which there are ducks, and no signs, and pretend you don’t know that it’s not a designated duck-feeding area and that obviously you’re going to get hit with a £75 fine if you feed them. You claim you need to be given a sign. What’s next? “This product may contain nuts” on a packet of peanuts?
"We have done a lot of educational work to get this message across and we have warned people not to feed pigeons and waterfowl other than in the designated areas." said council spokesman Mahboob Hussain. (Yes, Mahboob. Why are you sniggering at the back there?) But apparently, just because they didn’t warn her specifically, she’s going to get clean away with it. And the council are going to have to cancel the six other tickets issued, and refund the two who have already paid the fine.
Anyway, the council have promised to put some signs up, but until they do, the park is going to be a duck-feeding free-for-all in which anyone can feed ducks and get away with it. Councillor Cooper warned the public that wardens wearing head cameras would be on patrol, and once the new signs were up, there would be a three-warnings approach.
So be warned. Feed the ducks four times in the park, and men with cameras on their heads will appear and demand you pay them money. It’s a sign.
I can understand the council’s point.
If you feed ducks, they’ll learn to associate people with food.
So they’ll beg people for food, even the ones who didn’t bring anything.
And when they pester people for food, they’ll get more and more insistent. They may even develop a sense of entitlement.
Kind of like welfare recipients. Little, quacking, avian welfare recipients.
(A park ranger at Yellowstone put up a ‘don’t feed the bears’ sign worded very much like what I wrote. But I think it got torn down.)
Paw,
We have a similar farce in the U.S., where a mother is insisting that her child be allowed to ride his bicycle to school.
The school is having the kid met with police officers, to let him know he’s taking his life into his own hands by riding a bike to school. (It’s actually fear of lawsuits if the kid is hit by a motorist.)
Anyway, govt. continues to increase its reach, but only for good causes. It’s for the children. And the ducks.
I like feeding ducks.
Sunfish,
Those must be American ducks. British ducks are polite, and form a queue.
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Seriously, I don’t mind people being asked not to feed the ducks, with an explanation, because of the annoyance it causes. But lots of things people do are annoying - I don’t like to see them being regulated on those grounds alone. The lady in question, when the problem was explained to her, said “fair enough”. Fines are surely for the intransigent?
And my objection to welfare is being made to pay for it. If children were to demand bread from me, in order to feed ungrateful ducks, I might well object. But people feeding their own bread to ducks for their own pleasure, or their own bread to the unemployed, is cool with me.
I expect you knew that. But it was worth clarifying.
Them Canada Geese are right bastards too, and big fuckers!They shit over everything.
Just down the hill from where I grew up in Cardiff, is Roath Park lake. A big ol rent a rowing boat jobby, legacy of the dear old Victorians.
When I was a kid there were a few swans and ducks, but not that many.
Well the word has obviously gotten around amongst our feathered friends, that it is a pretty cool place to hang out, cos the place is swarming with them. But nobody in their right mind would stop you from feeding them.
The nub of this story of course, is that this poor lady has been turned over by a makework Jobsworth, only employed to shorten the dole queue, and busted for littering for fucks sake! Insane the world is insane!
She may think she’s got away with it.
But if I were her, I’d be very very afraid next time I had any contact with Social Workers.
And if she leaves her child at a nursery or a school, it would be sensible just to wonder whether he’ll still be there when she goes to pick him up…