SHE has been told by her strata managers to stop feeding native birds on common property but Pawarisa Siripanachai, of Kogarah, isn't going to stop.
Mrs Siripanachai feeds native rainbow lorikeets in the front yard of her French Street unit block each morning and afternoon; something she has done for more than 10 years.
Clisdells Strata Managers at Rockdale sent a notice to residents in the building in August asking them to refrain from feeding birds "in an effort to deter the risk of expensive, unnecessary repairs".
The notice said the birds were defecating on the building and balconies as well as residents' washing, and had damaged plants, antennas, cabling, woodwork and guttering.
Mrs Siripanachai, who owns her unit, denied the birds were causing any damage and said they kept to the bottlebrush trees and lawn in the front garden.
She is convinced the birds will die if they do not have flowers to eat and so started to offer them food during the cooler months when the bottlebrushes are not in bloom.
She feeds them a basic dry formula for hand-reared lorikeets that she buys from a pet shop.
A 10-kilogram bag costs about $60, which she pays for out of the small income she makes delivering pamphlets to households.
The birds eat from her hand and from bowls she puts on the front lawn.
Depending on the weather, more than 100 birds visit each day and stay for about an hour.
Mrs Siripanachai believes the notice from strata was sent in response to a complaint from a disgruntled neighbour.
‘‘If they want me to stop they are going to have to take me to court,’’ Mrs Siripanachai said.
‘‘I’ve always loved animals. I never even want to kill a cockroach.
‘‘Sometimes when I go to Martin Place I see people homeless. They should be working ... but why do people feed them?
‘‘The bird, when they got no flower, they got no food.
‘‘The bird is desperate.’’
The NSW Department of Environment and Heritage states on its website that environmental officers are concerned that lorikeets have been dying in large numbers in NSW for no apparent reason.
Autopsies were carried out by NSW Agriculture and following further investigation, it was established the lorikeets were dying from necrotising enteritis, a bacterial disease associated with inadequate diet, not normally associated with lorikeets living ‘‘a natural way of life’’.
Should Mrs Siripanachai be allowed to feed the birds?
