Feed The Birds, Do Hard Time
12/08/2011
Seed not necessarily for the birds in Tucson
A well-intended woman in Tuscon has been convicted of illegally feeding birdseed to birds! According to the Associated Press, Arizona Game and Fish wildlife officials contacted 63-year-old Marcia Bauman several times since 2005, asking her to please stop placing birdseed on the ground where Javelinas, a dark grey peccary (not a pig, but resembles a pig), could get to it.
Bauman received a citation in June 2011 and was subsequently sentenced in Pima County Justice Court to perform 10 hours of community service and ordered to stop leaving birdseed on the ground.
Cracked Corn and I Don't Care
The Tucson-based investigators say large amounts of bird- seed and cracked corn were spread on the ground in Bauman's un-enclosed yard which attracted the Javelinas, including two that supposedly charged an investigating state agent. The pigs were later euthanized.
What is a Javelina?
Javelina live in semi desert areas of Mexico and Southwestern United States and grow to be up to 19 inches tall and weigh 40-60 pounds. They can be found in rural and semi-urban areas and are primarily herbivores dining on cacti, succulent plants, bulbs, tubers, beans and seeds.
Comments
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She was told multiple times to stop. She didn't. She was not "well intentioned" then.
Posted by: Penny | 12/08/2011 at 11:01 AM
Euthanized? Awww, were they found to be suffering from cancer or something?
They were killed. Use the right word. Euthanasia means "ending a life in order to relieve intractable suffering". I highly doubt that was the case here.
Posted by: ZaCloud | 12/08/2011 at 11:03 AM
I don't agree with euthanizing them, but they are rather dangerous to have around. They'll charge you for no reason.
If nothing else, put the bird seed in a feeder to help protect the birds from cats.
Posted by: Robin | 12/08/2011 at 11:13 AM
Ok,i can understand it a little more if she was already warned, but for some reason i have a hard time thinking that the older woman meant harm by feeding birds. There are so many rapist,robbers and murderers getting away with more than feeding the birds. A lot of them had previous convictions too, but are still out in society. Really??? I still can't help but feel for her. Even if it is just community service.
Posted by: Mary | 12/08/2011 at 11:22 AM
She was told. Also, it's not like Javelinas are endangered. If they get to be a danger to people around Tucson, I'm all for killing them. They should, however, give the meat to poor families, like they do with roadkill moose and elk where I live.
Posted by: bem | 12/08/2011 at 12:01 PM
Is this a joke? What is wrong with our system - celebrities get off less with much worse?? Killing the pigs wasnt right. Could have taken them to an animal sanctuary - terrible.
Posted by: Cristin | 12/08/2011 at 12:03 PM
This article is poorly written and leaves out WAY too much of the truth. The women was not leaving birdseed out to feed the birds. She was leaving it out to feed the javelinas and had been doing so for many years..to the many complaints of her neighbors who have small children and pets. There are reasons we are told not to feed the bears, or mountain lions, and yes javelinas.. they are dangerous animals, who have now lost all fear of humans. Can you imagine the law suits against game and fish if the javelinas had harmed, or killed a child or pet? What ever happened to honest reporting?
Posted by: hailey | 12/08/2011 at 01:08 PM
Oh, and she was not convicted of "illegally feeding the birds." The charge was because she was feeding food ( birdseed and other vegetation) to wild dangerous animals despite the many request for her not to. Your slanted lies and twisted truth in this article are atrocious.
Posted by: hailey | 12/08/2011 at 01:12 PM
If she really wanted to feed just the birds, she could have placed the feed in a higher location. Community service is fair.
Posted by: Marianne Wenzel | 12/08/2011 at 02:14 PM
Guilty!! Nuff said
Posted by: Joshua sanchez | 12/08/2011 at 07:02 PM
10 hours is nothing. She got off easy for something which is incredibly irresponsible, especially considering she'd been cited before. Usually, being found in contempt (which she is if she ignores citations) results in real jail time, but my guess is because she's almost a senior, they feel too sorry for her to lock her up.
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