Toby Jackson and his feathered friends on the wire
(GLYNN BROTHEN / iNFOnews.ca)
January 26, 2015 - 1:08 PM
KAMLOOPS – Bird-feeder Toby Jackson will not be going to court after he and Kamloops Community Safety Manager Jon Wilson came to an agreement today, Jan. 26.
In November, Jackson was fined by the city for attracting crows to his cul-de-sac after feeding them peanuts. His neighbour complained to the city's bylaw department and Jackson was issued two tickets totalling $300 under a nuisance bylaw. Jackson said he fed the crows as a way to study their behaviour after he was inspired by the PBS documentary A Murder of Crows.
The city manager and Jackson agreed agreed that the Valleyview resident may continue to feed the birds as long as it does not cause the birds to follow him home or close to his neighbour's house in the cul-de-sac.
"If I notice that they're still coming to my house then I'm supposed to stop feeding them at all for a while," Jackson said in an email.
Wilson said an online petition supporting Jackson's cause and protesting the bylaw wasn't very influential as many of the petitioners who signed were not from Kamloops.
"What factored into our decision was talking to Mr. Jackson and seeing if he had a willingness to try and resolve this and he clearly did," Wilson said. "We don't want to issue fines. Our preference is for compliance and to try and resolve a neighbourhood issue."
Wilson noted he spoke to the complainant who was also in favour of the agreement with Jackson.
"The complainant is very happy with this result as well and therefore it's in nobody's interest to be pursuing this through the courts," Wilson said.
Jackson said he is grateful for the nearly 16,000 signatures he received on his online petition, along with the support he's received from members of the community.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015