Ordinance against feeding stray animals in Tokyo

Tokyo’s Arakawa ward will be passing an ordinance against feeding stray animals:

Local authorities have been studying measures to implement such a ban because some residents have complained about loud cawing and droppings of crows as a man began feeding stray cats and birds around his home with raw meat almost daily at dawn since about five years ago, it said.

According to the planned ordinance, the ward’s officials will conduct an on-site inspection if there is a complaint from residents and if they find any violations, they would first warn the violators.

Then in the case of the violators not following the warning, the ward may make their names public after consulting a review panel of lawyers and other experts.

Authorities would penalize people who refuse the on-site inspection or obstruct the inspection up to 100,000 yen, and for those who ignore the warning, the fine would be up to 50,000 yen.

The severity of the problem is highlighted in this clip from an N-H-K news report that aired last night:

The easy food has attracted large numbers of crows, which annoy residents by making noise and pooping all over the place. One woman says that the crows tend to gather around as early as 3:00AM, and that she cannot sleep because of the noise. Another man claims that all the bird feces is a threat to public health.