If neighbor poisoned our birds, what can I do?

[chics n more]

Quote:
Good Post!

In an idyllic world this would be nice. However, it takes two parties, and when one makes the decision to kill another’s livestock that brings it to an entirely new level. And saying he would do it again. This family has small children. My goodness what kind of a person puts poison out because of a grudge, with the intention of KILLING living things. Unless he is mentally deficient this man KNOWS there is the possibility of children coming in contact with that poison. Doesn’t matter what else is “going on in the background”. He had many other options…including installing cameras himself. A totally safe option for living things.

I have to agree-apparently the first two posters forgot about the children- there is no excuse there say what you like-I work in the mental health field and there isn't even an excuse for poison if you are mentally ill-what if a child had found the poison before the poultry....

 

[LiLRedCV]

Not all "God-fearing" people are angelic and willing to compromise or to "forgive and forget" nor could they be considered "social" outside of their church. In fact, I've met several [alleged] "God-fearing" people who are just downright hateful to their fellow man or even animal.

As far as compromising goes? The hateful neighbor could've done the same thing - gone over, tried to work things out, reach a compromise. But he DIDN'T!! He chose to put this family in potential harms way for HIS actions and continues to make threats against them to police officers no less! Someone dumb enough to do that are dumb enough to do anything.

Two wrongs don't make a right, but to resort to POISONING someone's food supply (and these birds ARE part of this families food supply) over something so trivial as "feathers" and, as a direct result, potentially poisoning their family by this act? Nope. UNACCEPTABLE on any level. Neighbors actions go well beyond "nuisance", it's become deadly.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

So sorry for your suffering! What a wrench thrown into the works!

I have two ideas for you to ponder:

1. In this economy, every authority is probably short staffed with a good number of their office staff laid off, and they must juggle far more work in the same amount of workday, so will not be as thorough on YOUR case (while also working on the other cases they already have) as they would have been 2 years ago.

Keep a binder with documentation of every intervention, from calling the authorities to speaking with the neighbor, take objective and subjective notes each time (or audio record it). This is for YOUR peace of mind, to help control your fear and anxiety over being assaulted and attacked. What he has done is traumatize you, and you will need a tool like this to help cope with the trauma, coming out on the other side of it sane and stronger. You can put it in the binder, close the binder, refer to it as needed, then continue on your work/parenting/daily living free of the burden.


2. Entertain the possibility that your neighbor is old enough to have a licensed dentist as his child, which plops him into the agegroup for dementia. The act of pouring poison around the fenceline of his property was clearly not a normal thought process. Most normal humans would have the ability to think that through with the "If...then" process. If you had a valuable relationship with his dentist son, it might be a good time to bring up his dad's behavior, out of concern for the wellness of HIS family. This might be the tip of the family's iceberg, wondering how and why their dad's personality has been changing for a while... it does seem that you both have been decent enough neighbors, until lately.........

My two cents. I will hope to GOD that this will eventually be a completed event, with everybody surviving it in health and wellness.

I love this forum. I had a problem once, posted it here, and got many good replies.

 

[freezefamilyfarm]

Quote:
Most of what you said here is just silly, "how do you know that the run off and litter that your animals are leaving are not destroying his attempts at and award winning lawn of which he uses the proceeds to feed his starving family bc he is otherwise unable to make ends meet?" How do I know? Because I know. He is retired from GM. Their house has been paid for longer than I've been alive. He eats at the cafe every meal. His only son is a dentist and there are no lawn contests around here and his wouldn't win if there were.

We have had cordial relations for them for many years and I don't appreciate you saying we haven't acted responsibly when you do not know me at all.

My husband had spoken to him several times and we have made many attempts not be a nusiance, keeping the birds in the back half of our backyard and their coops to the north.

Maybe he has had a stroke or Alzheimer's, but this has not been revealed to me.

I only involved the authorities when the lives of my family were endangered and my animals were killed. I try to live drama-free. This message board has been my outlet because I am not broadcasting it on Facebook or to my coworkers. I do not want to stir more up than I have to, I just want the poison gone and to be able to let me birds out of their coops and my children out of the house.

And thanks again to those of you who have written kind, supportive words.

 

[Beekissed]

6chickens in St. Charles :

So sorry for your suffering! What a wrench thrown into the works!

I have two ideas for you to ponder:

1. In this economy, every authority is probably short staffed with a good number of their office staff laid off, and they must juggle far more work in the same amount of workday, so will not be as thorough on YOUR case (while also working on the other cases they already have) as they would have been 2 years ago.

Keep a binder with documentation of every intervention, from calling the authorities to speaking with the neighbor, take objective and subjective notes each time (or audio record it). This is for YOUR peace of mind, to help control your fear and anxiety over being assaulted and attacked. What he has done is traumatize you, and you will need a tool like this to help cope with the trauma, coming out on the other side of it sane and stronger. You can put it in the binder, close the binder, refer to it as needed, then continue on your work/parenting/daily living free of the burden.


2. Entertain the possibility that your neighbor is old enough to have a licensed dentist as his child, which plops him into the agegroup for dementia. The act of pouring poison around the fenceline of his property was clearly not a normal thought process. Most normal humans would have the ability to think that through with the "If...then" process. If you had a valuable relationship with his dentist son, it might be a good time to bring up his dad's behavior, out of concern for the wellness of HIS family. This might be the tip of the family's iceberg, wondering how and why their dad's personality has been changing for a while... it does seem that you both have been decent enough neighbors, until lately.........My two cents. I will hope to GOD that this will eventually be a completed event, with everybody surviving it in health and wellness.

I love this forum. I had a problem once, posted it here, and got many good replies.

I think this idea definitely has merit! Might not be a bad idea to involve the son in the effort to see if this man needs supervision due to increased dementia...could be they don't visit enough to see if he is slipping between the skull a little.​

 

[debs_flock]

Quote:
I don't understand why you haven't yet at least cleaned up the poison from your side of the fence. A few shovels of dirt would do a lot to remove it. Wouldn't it be worse to leave it to leach into your topsoil? You can put mesh along the bottom of the fence to prevent your birds from reaching through the wire. This of course would do nothing to prevent a reoccurance, but at least get rid of what's there now. You don't leave to leave it as evidence. Once it was observed by the authorities and photograped, what's the point? That would be like leaving fingerprint dust until after the burglar is tried (can you tell I've been robbed?).

I'm sorry you are having to deal with the situation. Difficult neighbors can ruin your quality of life. For me it's the noisy child next door with a dirt bike. I know not the level of your trouble, but still a problem when you can't enjoy your own yard.

I would have to agree, I would never call PETA, they don't want you to own poultry either.

Good luck in your quest for a resolution.

Deb

 

[NatureBoy86]

This lady is going thru all this and theres people who have the audacity to say shes wrong or in any way to blame. Shes just dealing with a stressful situation and she dont need yall gabbin about shes done something wrong. I have much respect for what shes fighting for and I hope she contacts whoever she has to to get that man held accountable for his demonic actions. Whats all this about us against PETA, what is there some kind of gang rival? Lol sad. Im sending all my support for you freezefamilyfarm, just want you to know your doing exactly what you should. Protect your family at ALL COST

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

Quote:
If there are no problems from you, then why do you need "...many attempts not to be a nuisance....."?

Get the poison cleaned up, then look after your flocks. Hopefully the neighbor will be prosecuted or at least chastised considerably.

I still stand by my comment that you need to objectively look at the entire situation to see what may have triggered this inappropriate, illegal behavior. It can NOT be entirely "I'm right, He's wrong"

Please don't take this as Blaming the Victim.

 

[johnsons-r-us]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

Quote:
If there are no problems from you, then why do you need "...many attempts not to be a nuisance....."?
Get the poison cleaned up, then look after your flocks. Hopefully the neighbor will be prosecuted or at least chastised considerably.

I still stand by my comment that you need to objectively look at the entire situation to see what may have triggered this inappropriate, illegal behavior. It can NOT be entirely "I'm right, He's wrong"

Please don't take this as Blaming the Victim.

Because you can’t always appease people…….and what they demand might be unreasonable. You can try all you want but some people just won’t have it any other way other than their own. So maybe they did try, their efforts were rejected. Some people are just grumpy, unhappy people and you just can't do anything right in their eyes. It is not our personal responsibility to ensure the happiness of our neighbors. This would be an impossible task. Obeying the law is an entirely different matter.​

 

[flyingtnh]

I may have missed it - you've definitely been busy trying to get action on this - but I'd call the EPA also. I have a feeling that the level to which he's going to have to remove soil to make it acceptable by hazmat cleanup guidelines is going to be oppressive.

I'd also be calling the local chapter of Audubon and Ducks Unlimited... Take a couple pics of the Canada Geese near the poison pile, and you'll have some p-o'd bird folks and hunters pretty quick.

Maybe also the local Groundwater folks.

Sorry you've got to go through this. Reminds me of folks that buy cheap property near a runway and then complain about the noise.

And as many have pointed out - this is poisoning of YOUR FOOD, which a reasonable person would understand to be, if not a direct threat to your health and lives, at least reckless endangerment of the same.