‘Persecuted, penalised $24,000 for feeding pigeons’: South Yarra lady claims she’s victim of witch hunt

A pensioner who caused a stink by feeding birds at her South Yarra home now faces hefty court costs and losing her apartment. She says winning lotto is her only hope.

Pigeons on the roof of Lora Stock’s South Yarra apartment in April 2020.

Sheriffs are set to seize and sell off the home of a bird loving pensioner who fought through the courts for the right to feed wild pigeons from her South Yarra apartment balcony.

Lora Stock now faces losing her home and claims she is the victim of a “witch hunt”, after being hit with hefty court costs, which she says she cannot pay.

She told the Herald Sun she hoped to win lotto on Saturday night to pay the court costs and keep her home.

Ms Stock protested outside the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) this week, holding a board saying: “Witch hunt! Persecuted and penalised $24,000 for feeding pigeons by evil VCAT. A crime to be kind!”

She told the Herald Sun court costs she had been ordered to pay over “a petty matter of feeding pigeons” were “outrageous”.

A VCAT spokesman said the tribunal could not comment on the protest or case.

But a legal letter supplied to the Herald Sun says the Supreme Court on July 28, 2021 ordered Ms Stock pay the owners corporation of her apartment building $20,716.17, with the amount rising every day it was not paid by $5.68.

The lawyer’s letter threatened to seize and sell Ms Stock’s Kensington Rd apartment in default if the money was not paid.

Ms Stock this week said she hoped to appeal, but feared she had run out of time to do so.

A Sheriff’s Office Victoria letter on May 19 this year states it “has been instructed to sell by public auction” Ms Stock’s apartment.

“As of 19 May 2022, the amount outstanding under the warrant is $24,072.92, plus daily interest of $5.68. If the warrant is not paid by 2 June 2022 or suitable arrangements are not made with the plaintiff’s solicitors, the auction for the sale of your interest(s) in the above real estate will be advertised,” the letter states.

Ms Stock’s VCAT protest comes more than two years after she was ordered by the tribunal to stop feeding the pigeons of South Yarra from her upstairs apartment, as the smell and mess was causing a flap with other tenants in the building.

VCAT ordered Ms Stock, a pensioner, pay the owners corporation legal costs of $1000, with the matter since progressing through the courts.

But Ms Stock, who had fed, watered and sheltered the suburb’s wild pigeons since 1993 said she could not turn her back on her feathered friends, particularly in winter.

Neighbours told the tribunal at the time scores of feral pigeons came and went from Ms Stock’s unit each day — leaving a stinky mess of bird droppings, feathers, seed and dust.

Lora Stock says she is the victim of a witch hunt over her love for pigeons. Picture: Supplied

Pigeon poo had blocked drains and dirty water leaked into apartments below, with the pigeons sometimes fluttering into other homes if windows were left open and crashing into shut ones, the tribunal heard in April 2020.

Ms Stock argued the birds caused no harm and were like her pets.

“Some (pigeons) have been around 15 years so they’ve become pets, like some people have cats and dogs, and they have become domesticated,” she told the tribunal.

The birds were “not your gutter scavenging pigeons” but were fed “superior food” with garlic and hot spice powder added to their grain, she said.

Multi-vitamins and supplements were also mixed in their food and they received vet care and medication when injured or ill.

“The pigeons … in no way interfere with anyone’s life or amenity,” Ms Stock wrote in an email to the tribunal in 2020.

“Granted, the number frequenting have gradually increased … as a result of council erecting signs in parks prohibiting feeding pigeons. Public housing tenants have also been instructed to not feed pigeons … as a consequence the birds are starving, they simply cannot obtain enough natural feed in the inner city. Bird species and numbers of birds have diminished markedly … the iconic pigeons in the park have all gone.”