The Morning Call (PA): Attention birds: Try to eat neatly when you go to Diane and Bill Ganssle’s house on Second Street in Bethlehem Township.
Don’t be offended. It’s not that they think you’re slobs, it’s that they are getting into a jam with a township law that says they are harboring rodents that are drawn to bird seed falling on the ground.
One other thing, birds, don’t misunderstand the Ganssles. They love you they’ve been feeding you for 25 years, but this whole thing with the township law has come to them as a complete surprise.
That surprise turned to displeasure and stress Monday night, Diane Ganssle presented her problem to the township commissioners and what she would like is for the ordinance — called 247-3 — to be changed so people can feed birds without difficulty and a fine that can reach $1,000 per day.
The retired couple’s encounter with the law started in December, when township code enforcement officer Abraham Hoffner informed them that their dozen bird feeders were not in compliance with the ordinance.
Bill Ganssle said the notice was stunning, but, “I took all the feeders down, emptied them and put them in metal containers.”
“That was the first violation. It was Dec. 10,” he said, and by Dec. 17 the only feeder remaining was a 3-foot tube feeder.
But that feeder had a problem. “We found a message on our answering machine [Jan.14] from Mr. Hoffner informing us that our one and only bird feeder was not in compliance with Ordinance 247-3 (A),” Diane Ganssle said.
She said the feeder was supposed to be equipped with a squirrel-proof top and a catch basin affixed to the bottom. These devices are supposed to deter squirrels and other rodents by not allowing seed to fall to the ground.
To outfit the single tube feeder, Bill Ganssle said after the meeting, “The basin alone, which is about 18 inches in diameter, cost $54.”
“And I am required to empty [the basin] at least once a day, but sometimes I do it twice … and sometimes I’m out there six, eight times a day chasing the squirrels,” he said.
After being accused of harboring rodents, which Diane Ganssle said in this case are squirrels and chipmunks, “We had the trees on our property cut and thinned so they wouldn’t attract squirrels and their nests.”
While all efforts were made to comply with the law, Diane Ganssle said she has learned the entire episode is the result of someone complaining about deer and how their bird feeders are attracting deer.
