Animal-feeding saga ends in court

Bruce Kert, the Westmounter who was fined $75 for feeding a squirrel in Westmount Park two-and-a-half years ago and attracted negative media attention to Westmount after his bill rose to $455, said he will pay the final $50 the judge decided on in court last Monday, "if they send me the bill."

The 57-year-old musician initially wanted to contest the ticket because he thought he should have received a warning instead. He claims he didn't know feeding wild animals was illegal and the amount that was listed on the ticket didn't match what the officer who issued it had told him.

This amount rose to $455 after he failed to appear in court, but Kert said he never received the notices to appear.

Mayor Karin Marks proposed to settle the case by offering Kert to become a spokesperson for not feeding wild animals but he refused.

Kert said the bylaw that prevents people from feeding wild animals is a waste of time. "They should look for people who are vandalizing or who are putting graffitis up," he said. "All these animals are part of life."

He even wrote a song about the case, called Squirrelgate, which can be heard online on the website Soundlick. He hopes the attention he gets from the media will give a boost to his career. "People tune in [the website] because they know I wrote a song about it," he said. "All this publicity is good."

Kert has four months to pay the final $50 fine, which he said he'll do — if he receives a bill.

But will he keep his squirrel-feeding habit? "Maybe," he said.