Over the past 22 years, Maryann Haelzle has seen her share of wildlife on her property.

She says deer, coyotes, raccoons, squirrels and skunks have all made their presence felt at her home in the Lackner Woods area of Kitchener.

“I like deer, but they eat my evergreens and my hostas. They can do a lot of damage,” she said Monday.

Haelzle suspects some of those wild animals may be moving further into the city because of people offering them food.

“They have enough food in the forest, so there’s no need to feed them,” she said.

City councillors seem to agree. They voted Monday in favour of updating Kitchener’s bylaws to explicitly prohibit the feeding of wild animals.

Currently, the bylaws only outlaw the feeding of ducks and geese at Victoria Park.

Gloria MacNeil, the city’s director of bylaw enforcement, says the new proposal was the result of several years of increased complaints about people putting out food for wild animals.

Bird feeders would still be OK under the proposed rules, but they would have to be small enough to keep the feed inside and wild animals at bay.

Bylaw officers would enforce the rules on a complaint basis, with the maximum possible penalty for violators being a $5,000 fine.

“We would certainly work with people and educate them and try to obtain compliance before ever laying a charge,” said MacNeil.

Kitchener resident Ted Klaver told CTV News that he had “mixed feelings” about the bylaw.

He said that people feeding animals can do “more harm than good” in some situations – but not in all cases, such as in the case of the deer feed he buys during the winter months.

“The snow’s three feet deep and the animals are starving. We feel we’re saving their lives,” he said.

Monday’s decision must still be affirmed with another council vote, which is expected to take place Aug. 29. If that happens, the new rules will take effect immediately.

With reporting by Marc Venema