A bylaw officer visited my home recently to advise my husband and I of a complaint about us feeding wildlife. Apparently, Kawartha Lakes prohibited this, meaning I cannot give a chipmunk or squirrel a peanut. I couldn’t believe it. I have lived here for 35 years and never heard of such a thing.

Up until a year-and-a-half ago, I hated squirrels, because they would eat my flowers. I didn’t realize how hungry they really were. So, on my brother’s advice, I started feeding them. After a while, they started leaving my flowers alone. Before long, we were buddies. We enjoyed their presence — they helped us fight anxiety and depression.

Some of our neighbours also feed them, but the complaint was against us. (We’ve had to call bylaw when some of our neighbours had open-air fires, so I can’t help but think this call was retaliation.) I suffer from asthma and deserve to breathe fresh air. I also don’t see anything wrong with giving a chipmunk or squirrel a peanut. Heck, there’s a popular Instagram account of someone feeding a chipmunk in Lindsay.

– Teresa Messina, Lindsay

The regulations are in place to consider how animals survive, especially in an urban environment. Wild animals that live in our backyards have survived there because of naturally available food, water, and shelter. If wild animals are conditioned to depend on a human for food, they turn away from foraging and when the food source diminishes or the human changes their feeding habit, the animal is less likely to survive.

– Aaron Sloan, manager, municipal law enforcement and licensing, Kawartha Lakes