Brickbat: For the Birds

Inbar Stern / Dreamstime.com

Brad Martell has been feeding birds in the backyard of his Melbourne, Australia, home for 20 years. Then a new neighbor moved in. The neighbor complained to local officials, who fined Martell $200 for feeding wildlife. Martell reduced the amount he feeds the birds and moved the feedings to his front yard. But a few weeks later, he got a summons for nine more charges. It seems that local officials had been covertly spying on him and caught him continuing to feed the birds.

Comments

[Rat on a train]

I can understand the complaint. Aren't Australian birds deadly like all other Australian fauna?

[Tom Bombadil]

I've watched a few televised golf tournaments held in Australia and the most striking thing is how frickin' loud the birds are. It sounds like an Aboriginal genocide going on in the background.

[Rat on a train]

Perhaps you heard a lyrebird mimicking an Aboriginal genocide.

[Tom Bombadil]

Believe me, I know the real thing. Believe me.

[Tom Bombadil]

Brad Martell. He has the grace of a swan, the wisdom of an owl, and the eye of an eagle. Ladies and Gentlemen, this man is for the birds.

[Fuck you, Shikha (Nunya)]

I see no comment to whether there were ever any neighbor to neighbor discussions. Maybe there were. Maybe there weren't. I'm guessing there weren't any. And to me that is the real problem. No one just talks to each other anymore. It's just about finding someone else to force or personal ideas on everyone else.

[Leo Kovalensky II]

Or tackling and breaking ribs.

[Adans smith]

You know who else spied on their citizens?

[Inigo Montoya]

James Clapper

[John C. Randolph]

80% or so of the inmates of the GDR?

-jcr

[Fist of Etiquette]

And then they shot his dog.

[sarcasmic]

It's Australia. On average five people a year die at the hands of the cops over there. Their job is to serve and protect. As opposed to American cops whose job is to have zero tolerance for noncompliance.

[Tom Bombadil]

Maybe a dingo ate his baby.

[John C. Randolph]

If you're the kind of miserable little scumbag would would call the cops because your neighbor has a bird feeder, you deserve to starve to death on the streets as a pariah.

On a related note, if your government fines people for feeding birds, then your legislature has far more power than they can be trusted with.

-jcr

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Right on both counts.

Christ what assholes.

[Jenette]

nice to hear you on brickbat for the birds.
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[Scarecrow Repair & Chippering]

Will I get a fine for feeding the spam bird?

[Conchfritters]

$200 fine?? That like four packs of cigarettes in Australia.

[Longtobefree]

This is what happens when the government takes away all your guns - - - - - -

[Quo Usque Tandem]

He could start by shooting his asshole of a neighbor. Sounds perfectly justifiable to me.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

So, in Australia, putting out a bird feeder is a federal offense?

More cautionary tales from lands of progressives.