Poor birds. I had to surrender my cat to be able to move all the way to Dunedin. Hardest thing I think I've ever had to do. Now I've beed buying wild bird seed and feeding all the birds in my back yard. Surround by native trees everywhere here so I take pause everyday to listen to the native birds. They help fill my heart. The birds I feed know the rough time I feed them. They know the routine. The intelligence amazes me. It helps with the dumbness of America that's happening.
🫂 I live near the sea & get my fill of "nature" whenever I want, but still hanker for "the bush" & native bird song & chatter so have to drive & camp every so often to fill up! Also have an audio file of native bird song & a bush stream for background when going to sleep sometimes. But like Hayden, my own backyard is surrounded by neighbourhood cats & so I don't encourage birds - backbirds help themselves to my berries if I leave them un-covered, & sparrows peck insects off my roses, but both places cats can't reach 😁
I want to start feeding the birds in my backyard but the place is littered with cats and I feel like I'd basically be laying down bait for a bird trap. Glad you get to experience the bird joy
Me too! So I just give my cat extra temptations instead (vet advice be damned!) and save myself the trouble of trying to rescue the birds he'll inevitably catch.
Our parents gave us a bird feeder for Christmas one year. Unfortunately it very quickly became a cat feeder: each of our two cats, one of whom had never brought in even a mouse, brought us “presents” so after 2 days we took it down 🫣
This reminds me a little of the Croydon Cat Killer saga. From 2014 there were around 400 cats found mutilated around South London, and it was attributed to a potential psychopath who may start killing people. The police got involved and there was quite a large investigation. In 2018 it was determined that actually the far more likely culprit was foxes, and that some cats had been hit by vehicles and the predated by foxes or other animals.
A really interesting case that is now considered an example of moral panic.
"The Croydon Cat Killer is the name given to an individual alleged to have killed, dismembered and decapitated more than 400 cats and various other animals across England, beginning in 2014 in Croydon, South London. Reports of cat deaths attributed to the killer were spread across and around London, and as far north as Manchester. However, in 2018, the Metropolitan Police concluded that the mutilations had not been carried out by a human and were likely caused by wildlife predation or scavenging on cats killed in vehicle collisions, a conclusion subsequently supported by further research."
I feel very sorry for the birds but also for the woman suffering from serious mental illness that is being tracked. As someone who works and cares for wonderful people who have SMI this broke my heart. I understand that there is a lot of conversation around SMI and crime (mass shooters are a common example). However, there is still a lot of data out there that supports that people with SMI are more likely to be victims of a crime rather than perpetrators (https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/04/ce-mental-illness).
I'm not familiar with the mental health system in Auckland or the situation outside of this article. I just hope someone offered her the help and resources she needs. Also, if your gut reaction is to blame someone with SMI, I would encourage you to go to a peer-based mental health org and meet some people. I guarantee you'll meet some of the most empathetic, compassionate, and interesting people. We're not bad people needing to be tracked by entire communities, we're just people with a different brain chemistry.
Thanks for that link - really important stuff to clock:
**
It is important to learn about these issues not only to better treat these individuals and to aid their families and communities but to combat the misperception that most people with serious mental illness are violent, adds Jeffrey Swanson, PhD, a medical sociologist at the Duke University School of Medicine and a prominent researcher of the topic. For example, people often believe that people with mental illness are largely responsible for incidents of mass violence and that people with mental illness are responsible for a large share of community violence. Yet both views have been roundly debunked by research, says Swanson.
“We need to do some serious myth-busting around these ideas,” he says, “because people believe them, and they have real consequences.”
And here in Wellington, Churton Park has someone poisoning the Porirua Awa. The worst day it turned completely white and ran like that for 12 hours! The worst part is the community being defensive instead of helping find the culprit because it couldn’t possibly be one of their neighbours doing such a thing. I’m so upset, it breaks my heart
It's such an interesting thing when individuals take this stuff into their own hands and run rampant. Like people who are angry a tree is blocking their view, so go and poison it / drill holes. It's such selfish, weird, toxic behaviour.
I’ve been so shocked by the behaviours of people in this neighbourhood, dangerous driving and parking around schools that no amount of education is improving, children leaving their fruit waste on the local supermarket shelves, a known local drunk driver… I’m so confused I’ve started studying anthropology at Vic at the age of 42 🫣. I don’t understand people at all
I used to live next door to mass bird killers at my old lifestyle block. They would lay the poison out to try to get rid of all the sparrows as they wanted nothing but quail and ‘natives’. So basically they attempted ethic cleansing of the local bird population. As you’d expect, it took out everything and left our joining bush blocks silent. If you tried to reason (you do know birds can fly, right?) with them they would talk at you from a high horse about looking after the other birds.
It’s infuriating that the poison is readily available to the public.
I really hate that this happened - and I guess at times it's difficult to get authorities involves as it can turn into a "neighbors at war" style thing.
🥹 Onto the bird killer(s) - I understand situations of over-population of non-native species being culled (Canada Geese springs to mind) but this seems like something completely different. I know they tested a local water body for toxic algae, but as someone said "birds can fly" so it is possibly a more distant source if not humans poisoning them. On the other hand, the variety of birds is suspicious, as they have different dietary sources unless it is human provided ⁉️ As with everyone else, stop assuming someone with (presumed) mental health issues is up to no good - IF it was someone with mental health issues they would only get away with it if they presented like a "normal" person so you wouldn't be able to tell anyway - just sayin' 🤷
🙋 Initial comment before I pollute my mind with bird killers (I am a bird-o-phile (avian-o-phile?) so...
The Atlantic & publishing the "not war plans but attack plans" texts = the journalist was aware of national securiy implications and intelligence that can be gleaned even after the fact, even if the top security clearance personnel in the current US govt weren't 🤷 He has more experience of this than all of the others on the group put together 😱 But when all the lying-liars decided to call HIM a liar, and lying-lied that there was NOTHING classified in the txts AT ALL, well, seems like any journalist should be reassured that publishing in full would be perfectly fine eh ⁉️ After all, they INVITED him to be part of the group so... Noted also that he still redacted the NAME of a CIA person, so still being a responsible citizen.
This environmental vandalism makes me so sad, another favourite activity in NZ is illegal tree felling of public trees and those on private land, because "what about my view?!" Nature is having such a hard time trying to coexist with humanity, Nature doesn't need us to go out of our way to kill things, we are already responsible for the current "6th great extinction event"
Ugh, I just mentioned this to someone above. You're so right. It's such a toxic, privileged point of view that leads anyone to kill a tree. And often a magnificent, tall, wonderful tree at that.
Someone in our street cut down 2 big mature trees on the berm so they just had plain grass to mow. Council told them to replace the trees but never followed up, so now it's still just bare grass. No shade, nothing to suck up the rain and stabilise the land and just boring grass overmown and only about a mm high. 😕
I find it sort of stunning when people don't care about birds. They stop me in my tracks. I don't see how you could have any other reaction but wonder - which leads to a need to protect and look after.
I hope a solution is found ASAP so the person doesn't continue to be under suspicion. Of course, with something like this the damage is already done: For some in the community they will always treat her with suspicion and angst.
Reading along the intro. Things are just fine. "Classic Farrier" and all that, you know? And then sticking.. hypodermic needle.. what..the..SHIT ..you know, I think I'm good on internet for a while, I'll circle back to this bird thing later on..
And a Police Chief in Hudson County, New Jersey, has been accused of assaulting and harassing fellow police by shitting on floors, exposing himself, shaving his back in the office, and “sticking a hypodermic needle into an officer’s penis.”
What the actual fuck. I can’t even. What is wrong with people.
I think we can all agree the one thing the bird killer WOULDN'T do is write an article about the bird killing!
I've seen the way your eyes narrow when you see a bird nearby. Interesting.
Nobody suspected you…. Until you wrote that
Poor birds. I had to surrender my cat to be able to move all the way to Dunedin. Hardest thing I think I've ever had to do. Now I've beed buying wild bird seed and feeding all the birds in my back yard. Surround by native trees everywhere here so I take pause everyday to listen to the native birds. They help fill my heart. The birds I feed know the rough time I feed them. They know the routine. The intelligence amazes me. It helps with the dumbness of America that's happening.
Oh, I am so sorry - having to adopt out a pet is *hard*.
🫂 I live near the sea & get my fill of "nature" whenever I want, but still hanker for "the bush" & native bird song & chatter so have to drive & camp every so often to fill up! Also have an audio file of native bird song & a bush stream for background when going to sleep sometimes. But like Hayden, my own backyard is surrounded by neighbourhood cats & so I don't encourage birds - backbirds help themselves to my berries if I leave them un-covered, & sparrows peck insects off my roses, but both places cats can't reach 😁
I want to start feeding the birds in my backyard but the place is littered with cats and I feel like I'd basically be laying down bait for a bird trap. Glad you get to experience the bird joy
Me too! So I just give my cat extra temptations instead (vet advice be damned!) and save myself the trouble of trying to rescue the birds he'll inevitably catch.
Our parents gave us a bird feeder for Christmas one year. Unfortunately it very quickly became a cat feeder: each of our two cats, one of whom had never brought in even a mouse, brought us “presents” so after 2 days we took it down 🫣
This reminds me a little of the Croydon Cat Killer saga. From 2014 there were around 400 cats found mutilated around South London, and it was attributed to a potential psychopath who may start killing people. The police got involved and there was quite a large investigation. In 2018 it was determined that actually the far more likely culprit was foxes, and that some cats had been hit by vehicles and the predated by foxes or other animals.
A really interesting case that is now considered an example of moral panic.
I had never heard of this - it's like a giant, much more deranged version of what Hayden is talking about. Wow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydon_Cat_Killer:
"The Croydon Cat Killer is the name given to an individual alleged to have killed, dismembered and decapitated more than 400 cats and various other animals across England, beginning in 2014 in Croydon, South London. Reports of cat deaths attributed to the killer were spread across and around London, and as far north as Manchester. However, in 2018, the Metropolitan Police concluded that the mutilations had not been carried out by a human and were likely caused by wildlife predation or scavenging on cats killed in vehicle collisions, a conclusion subsequently supported by further research."
I remember that. It was bonkers.
I feel very sorry for the birds but also for the woman suffering from serious mental illness that is being tracked. As someone who works and cares for wonderful people who have SMI this broke my heart. I understand that there is a lot of conversation around SMI and crime (mass shooters are a common example). However, there is still a lot of data out there that supports that people with SMI are more likely to be victims of a crime rather than perpetrators (https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/04/ce-mental-illness).
I'm not familiar with the mental health system in Auckland or the situation outside of this article. I just hope someone offered her the help and resources she needs. Also, if your gut reaction is to blame someone with SMI, I would encourage you to go to a peer-based mental health org and meet some people. I guarantee you'll meet some of the most empathetic, compassionate, and interesting people. We're not bad people needing to be tracked by entire communities, we're just people with a different brain chemistry.
Thanks for that link - really important stuff to clock:
**
It is important to learn about these issues not only to better treat these individuals and to aid their families and communities but to combat the misperception that most people with serious mental illness are violent, adds Jeffrey Swanson, PhD, a medical sociologist at the Duke University School of Medicine and a prominent researcher of the topic. For example, people often believe that people with mental illness are largely responsible for incidents of mass violence and that people with mental illness are responsible for a large share of community violence. Yet both views have been roundly debunked by research, says Swanson.
“We need to do some serious myth-busting around these ideas,” he says, “because people believe them, and they have real consequences.”
I was at Sherwood yesterday and there were a large number of ducks, pigeons, and one pukeko.
We fed them rolled oats and they were happy.
This is good news (unless you are the killer, then I take it back!)
Haha
Nope, just a fan of ducks and rolled oats.
Also, Sherwood!
Side note, some of them appeared to be domestic breeds, so it’s possible some duck fans have assisted in repopulating them!
And here in Wellington, Churton Park has someone poisoning the Porirua Awa. The worst day it turned completely white and ran like that for 12 hours! The worst part is the community being defensive instead of helping find the culprit because it couldn’t possibly be one of their neighbours doing such a thing. I’m so upset, it breaks my heart
It's such an interesting thing when individuals take this stuff into their own hands and run rampant. Like people who are angry a tree is blocking their view, so go and poison it / drill holes. It's such selfish, weird, toxic behaviour.
I’ve been so shocked by the behaviours of people in this neighbourhood, dangerous driving and parking around schools that no amount of education is improving, children leaving their fruit waste on the local supermarket shelves, a known local drunk driver… I’m so confused I’ve started studying anthropology at Vic at the age of 42 🫣. I don’t understand people at all
I used to live next door to mass bird killers at my old lifestyle block. They would lay the poison out to try to get rid of all the sparrows as they wanted nothing but quail and ‘natives’. So basically they attempted ethic cleansing of the local bird population. As you’d expect, it took out everything and left our joining bush blocks silent. If you tried to reason (you do know birds can fly, right?) with them they would talk at you from a high horse about looking after the other birds.
It’s infuriating that the poison is readily available to the public.
I really hate that this happened - and I guess at times it's difficult to get authorities involves as it can turn into a "neighbors at war" style thing.
Horrible.
🥹 Onto the bird killer(s) - I understand situations of over-population of non-native species being culled (Canada Geese springs to mind) but this seems like something completely different. I know they tested a local water body for toxic algae, but as someone said "birds can fly" so it is possibly a more distant source if not humans poisoning them. On the other hand, the variety of birds is suspicious, as they have different dietary sources unless it is human provided ⁉️ As with everyone else, stop assuming someone with (presumed) mental health issues is up to no good - IF it was someone with mental health issues they would only get away with it if they presented like a "normal" person so you wouldn't be able to tell anyway - just sayin' 🤷
🙋 Initial comment before I pollute my mind with bird killers (I am a bird-o-phile (avian-o-phile?) so...
The Atlantic & publishing the "not war plans but attack plans" texts = the journalist was aware of national securiy implications and intelligence that can be gleaned even after the fact, even if the top security clearance personnel in the current US govt weren't 🤷 He has more experience of this than all of the others on the group put together 😱 But when all the lying-liars decided to call HIM a liar, and lying-lied that there was NOTHING classified in the txts AT ALL, well, seems like any journalist should be reassured that publishing in full would be perfectly fine eh ⁉️ After all, they INVITED him to be part of the group so... Noted also that he still redacted the NAME of a CIA person, so still being a responsible citizen.
This environmental vandalism makes me so sad, another favourite activity in NZ is illegal tree felling of public trees and those on private land, because "what about my view?!" Nature is having such a hard time trying to coexist with humanity, Nature doesn't need us to go out of our way to kill things, we are already responsible for the current "6th great extinction event"
Ugh, I just mentioned this to someone above. You're so right. It's such a toxic, privileged point of view that leads anyone to kill a tree. And often a magnificent, tall, wonderful tree at that.
Someone in our street cut down 2 big mature trees on the berm so they just had plain grass to mow. Council told them to replace the trees but never followed up, so now it's still just bare grass. No shade, nothing to suck up the rain and stabilise the land and just boring grass overmown and only about a mm high. 😕
This is just fucked. Harming anything defenceless is the lowest you can go as a human. I hope they are punished very severely
I find it sort of stunning when people don't care about birds. They stop me in my tracks. I don't see how you could have any other reaction but wonder - which leads to a need to protect and look after.
This is so sad for the poor birds, but also for the doxxing of a person who is vulnerable.
I hope a solution is found ASAP so the person doesn't continue to be under suspicion. Of course, with something like this the damage is already done: For some in the community they will always treat her with suspicion and angst.
Reading along the intro. Things are just fine. "Classic Farrier" and all that, you know? And then sticking.. hypodermic needle.. what..the..SHIT ..you know, I think I'm good on internet for a while, I'll circle back to this bird thing later on..
Imagine living in a town where THAT GUY IS YOUR POLICE CHIEF.
I can't.
And a Police Chief in Hudson County, New Jersey, has been accused of assaulting and harassing fellow police by shitting on floors, exposing himself, shaving his back in the office, and “sticking a hypodermic needle into an officer’s penis.”
What the actual fuck. I can’t even. What is wrong with people.
Just another day in the USA. Also, it was *years and years* of doing that stuff.
"Hey, let's casually drug a colleague for laughs! Cool!"
Any chance it’s avian flu? I know that it’s been found in the wild bird population, DOC are very worried about it
I think that's why they tested the duck at MPI but they didn't find it
Oh those poor birds :(