VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY -- The Natural Perspective

Some people just don’t get the message.

Since last summer, every public agency and elected official who has

anything to do with protecting our beaches has been repeating one message

over and over: Please don’t dump pollutants in the storm drains.

Supervisor Jim Silva held a press conference last week, at which he

turned on the pump that will pump urban runoff out of the Talbert flood

control channel and direct it to the sewer system for treatment.

And right there at the spot of the press conference, 10 minutes before

show time, someone from the local neighborhood walked up and dumped a few

pounds of cutup bread into the channel to feed the ducks!

Hello! After it goes through a duck, what does bread turn into? Bacteria!

Even worse, down at the Talbert Marsh, some well-intentioned lady has

been feeding the birds. That is, feeding the gulls.

And what is it she puts out for them? Bird seed? No, sir.

These gulls are fed huge bags of bread, mixed with chunks of beef and

chicken. With neighbors like these, it’s no wonder there are bacteria --

and rats -- at the beach.

Wildlife don’t need people food. They don’t really do very well on it.

What they need is their own native habitat protected so they can feed for

themselves.

And when people feed wildlife, it is often the wildlife that suffers. At

Talbert Marsh, for instance, the county has seriously proposed berming

off the mouth of Talbert Marsh to keep bacteria from reaching the ocean.

The consequences for the marsh, and its bird life, could be catastrophic.

I’m sure the people who are feeding the birds sincerely believe they are

doing the birds a favor. In point of fact, they are the birds’ worst

enemies.

It’s time for these folks to wake up and smell the ocean.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 [email protected] .