Township to Talk Wildlife Feeding Regulations at Committee Meeting

Back on the township committee agenda tonight is an ordinance that will address feeding geese on public and private properties in Lacey.

After receiving much pushback from residents last month, , which would prohibit the feeding of wildlife on all private and public properties.

As part of the township’s geese population management plan, the committee crafted the modified ordinance. Feeding wildlife on public property, which the committee says contributes to the presence of geese, had already been illegal. The township sought to update the ordinance to include all private properties as well.

The ordinance was to prohibit ground feeding for all wildlife, not just geese, and would punish an individual in violation of the law by a fine between $100 and $1,250, imprisonment of no more than 90 days, community service of no more than 90 days or any combination of fine, imprisonment and community service.

Residents were concerned that they would no longer be able to feed wildlife on their own property. A non-scientific Lacey Patch poll from May revealed that 77 percent of 190 voters felt that the ordinance was infringing on their rights.

“It’s about the geese so the ordinance to me should be about the geese,” Leslie Nielsen of Forked River said in May. “Maybe we should do more for trying to find other ways for taking the geese out before we’re getting into my private property, which of course is on the waterways.”

The committee will vote to amend what they now call a “Peace and Good Order.” Changes between this ordinance and the previous one have yet to be made public.