“We have seen people cruelly run them over, pick them up by the ears and torture them and poison them,” Jensen said. “I am disgusted by the fact that we allow people to buy these bunnies as pets and release them into the wild, where they have little chance of survival, and in my experiences, live through one summer before they are killed in the winter.”

A west Anchorage resident who spoke at the meeting said the ordinance is overly broad and banning bird feeders year-round is a mistake.

“Bunny droppings are fertilizer that does not require aging, composting or drying before use. Droppings can be applied directly to plants, without burning roots, offering higher nitrogen and phosphorus levels than cow or horse manure,” she said. “So they’re not really harming our neighborhoods too much.” Tom Lakosh has been regularly feeding eagles throughout the winter in the Muldoon neighborhood. He believes providing the birds a healthy meal of meat or fish is preferable to having them eat garbage at the city dump.

“I’m trying to give them an alternative to the Hiland Landfill where they have disrupted the pattern of eagle feeding and nesting more than any other facility in any other municipality of the United States,” Lakosh said, adding the city needs to do a better job of protecting the birds at the facility.

Under the newly passed ordinance, people who intentionally feed birds of prey and other wildlife could receive a $250 fine for a first offense and a $500 fine for second and subsequent offenses. Negligent feeding, which could include leaving attractants for bears and other wildlife could draw a $100 fine for a first offense, a $300 fine for a second offense and a $500 fine for subsequent offenses.

When asked about concerns over dozens of eagles gathering close to a dog park in Muldoon, Lakosh replied:

“I’ve had people with small dogs who were concerned, but this is Alaska. You don’t bring a Chihuahua, the national dog from Mexico, and displace Alaskan eagles. I mean that’s kind of ridiculous.”

Despite concerns, Lakosh said he does support parts of the ordinance and recently pledged to Fish and Game that he would stop feeding eagles. He said the last time he did so was at the end of March, about the same time people in the area said the majority of bald eagles had disappeared from Muldoon. Lakosh said he’s glad to see them go because it means they are nesting in the woods, where they should be in the summer.