The City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, through the area of Strategic Planning, Environmental Sustainability and Public Services, has initiated a sanctioning procedure against a citizen for feeding pigeons, on repeated occasions, and thus violating the Municipal Ordinance Regulating the Protection and Ownership of Animals, which considers this fact as a serious administrative infraction and is sanctioned with an amount of up to 1,500 euros.
The mayor, José Manuel Bermúdez, comments in a note that "these events cannot go unnoticed", which is why the council will continue to sanction people who feed animals on public roads. "A simple fact like this can lead to public health problems and our responsibility as city managers is to prevent that from happening," he details.
For his part, the Councilor for Strategic Planning, Environmental Sustainability and Public Services, Carlos Tarife, explains that "the events are frequently repeated by this woman who refuses, as she says, to change her behavior, and who carries bags of plastic with a large amount of rice that he throws on the ground to feed the pigeons.
Furthermore, Tarife adds that "these people who feed the pigeons must be punished because it is an act that alters the health and natural balance of the city due to the appearance of a greater amount of excrement, for example, or that of other animals such as It's rodents." Hence, he indicates, "our efforts so that the population does not leave garbage outside the containers and so that they do not feed the pigeons."
The Municipal Ordinance Regulating the Protection and Ownership of Animals prohibits providing food of any type and manner without the corresponding administrative authorization, to any animal found on public roads or spaces, or that has accessed private property.
