I saw several of these signs when I stopped for lunch at Vancouver’s Granville Island.

On the other side, the signs say this.

Very true. As M and I sat on a bench overlooking the water to drink our coffees, a mom with two young daughters arrived to sit on the bench next to us. The youngest one, who is about 5, began to take a bite from her sandwich but within seconds, a gull flew in and ripped the whole sandwich practically out of her mouth.

In the blink of an eye, there were no less than five or six gulls aggressively fighting over the sandwich in the small space between me and the little girl. I would not have wanted to get in their way!

The little girl was scared and her mom shocked. I wondered what would have happened if they hadn’t quite gotten the sandwich; they might have swarmed the child.

So I agree with the BCSPCA. Feeding the birds is not healthy for them, in more ways than one.