Crime & Safety
Columbia Resident Ordered To Stop Feeding Vultures
A judge has ordered a Columbia woman to stop feeding vultures in her backyard, which has left a foul stench and pooh in the neighborhood.
COLUMBIA, MD — A Circuit Court judge has denied an appeal filed by a Howard County woman who has been feeding hundreds of vultures raw meat in her backyard and upheld a $2,500 fine that had been levied against her.
Judge Daniel Dwyer ruled that Columbia resident Feng Sun cannot resume feeding the birds. She used to feed up to 200 pounds a day of raw, bone-in chicken to the vultures that gathered in her backyard, sat on her deck and perched on her roof. She also provided them with cat food.
In the winter, she'd feed the vultures that packed her property for the free food upwards of 10,000 pounds of the raw, bone-in chicken.
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Neighbors complained to officials about foul odor permeating the area from decaying meat, bird poop dripping down trees, porches and roofs, and regurgitated chicken bones scattered across their properties.
After an investigation, Sun was found guilty of violating Howard County's health care and was fined $2,500, which she appealed.
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If Sun resumes feeding the vultures, she faces a contempt of court order.
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