A woman who rescues hundreds of pigeons and seagulls before nursing them back to health in her terraced house has accused neighbors of working with the council to ‘lock her out’.
Elizabeth Mooney has rehabilitated and released more than a thousand birds from her modest home in Liverpool over the past six years.
But after her neighbor accused the birds of attracting vermin and causing noise, Liverpool City Council (LCC) issued her with a prevention order.
Ms Mooney has accused the council of working with her neighbors to rob her and deprive her of her ‘civil liberties and liberty’.
The 40-year-old keeper, who keeps up to 20 birds in the garden of her West Derby home, told MailOnline: ‘It feels like everyone is against me. I just feel like selling and going.
“I never caused any problem, this was brought to my attention and I reported it. Every time I go to rescue a bird, I get photographed by my neighbor. She [Marie Tulley] sends this to the municipality.
‘It is not illegal to keep wild birds if a vet has checked, treated and signed off. I feel left out. I felt like I couldn’t go out and walk down the street.”
But the neighbors are less than sympathetic and say her endless birds make their lives hell.
One said: ‘Summer is a complete nightmare and you can forget about BBQs or anything like that.
‘The birds just take the food from your hand. If you sit outside with a drink, they start pooping all over you.’
Elizabeth Mooney has legally rehabilitated and released more than 1,000 seagulls and pigeons from her terraced house
The 40-year-old keeper keeps up to 20 birds in the garden of her West Derby home
The council has accused its aviaries of attracting vermin due to bird droppings and food scraps left on the floor
Ms Mooney claims her war with the neighbors started about three years ago when another resident started taking pictures of her every time she left the house to rescue young birds.
But events came to a head in October this year when LCC began pursuing Elizabeth and her operation.
In a series of personal and written warnings, they accused her aviaries of attracting vermin due to bird droppings and food scraps left on the floor, adding that the Homeade Nird rehabilitation was negatively impacting her street.
She then claims LCC wrote to neighbors encouraging them to report her to the RSPCA if they had any concerns.
Ms Mooney was also served with a public protection order – which restricts certain activities in public spaces to improve the quality of life for residents – accusing her of endangering the public.
She was presented with a long list of do’s and don’ts.
Ms Mooney is banned from posting on her Facebook page ‘Liverpool, Merseyside Bird Rehabilitation & Advice’, which has 11,500 members, advertises its services and allows Scousers to flag birds in need of rescue.
She is also banned from rescuing birds in the Liverpool area, must stop feeding seed to wild birds, release all seagulls and pigeons in her possession and clear her aviaries of droppings. She says she has carried out most of her requested orders, but she still has ten seagulls in her house.
But she added: “Surely that’s against civil liberties or freedom?
Elizabeth says she has never seen rats or mice in the aviary
Seagull campaigners have branded Liverpool City Council’s behavior ‘intimidation’
“They’ve made it a point that I can’t go out and pick up an injured bird.” You should have the freedom to go out, he said I wasn’t even on the [Facebook] groups no more.
‘I called the RSPCA, they’ve been here before. They said: “we will only come if you want us to support you”.
‘I have a rapid inflow and a rapid outflow. No vet here will actually treat because they don’t have the money or facilities to help every wild bird. It’s just to try to save them from euthanasia here.
‘I can’t walk past a wounded animal on the street without picking it up. I couldn’t be told that I couldn’t do that.
‘I thought I was trying to create hatred towards what I did and try to get more support for him than for me. He shouldn’t write to people who don’t even know about it.
‘That morning [after receiving the letter] Usually I talk to the neighbors, but they kept their heads down and didn’t look at me. There were two others who turned their backs on me.”
With vet bills reaching £1,000 and the council requiring her to carry out a £350 survey of her aviaries, Mrs Mooney says she could be forced to close.
She added: “I’ve been at this for six years
‘People trust me to pick them up. If I can’t do that, they will be left on the streets and die.’
However, neighbors claim they are made miserable by her pigeons bombing their backyards, stealing their food and invading their homes.
Charles Wilkinson, 83, who lives next to Mrs Mooney’s bird sanctuary, told the Mail he had endured years of misery.
Wilkinson, who once coached Robbie Fowler and Ross Barkley in junior league football, said he was now at his wits’ end.
The pensioner, whose home is a shrine to Liverpool FC, said: “I have suffered over the last few years. She also has seagulls, pigeons and ducks.
Elizabeth has always rescued animals and as a child she took in stray dogs
She has received support from the seagull rescue community, which believes the council has gone too far
Justin King, founder of the South Coast and East Sussex Bird/Gull Advice and Resource Forum in Brighton, said Elizabeth was the latest in a long line of seagull heroes to be harassed
“And the smell and the noise, they last all night.
“Some of these birds are large and aggressive.”
Mr Wilkinson, who lost his wife two years ago, said the birds would try to enter his home.
He said: ‘If you leave a window open, they will try to get in. I think she lets them fly in and out of her house.
‘I’m too old for this now, but if I was in my prime I’d figure this out.
‘We are all sick of the birds’ molars.’
A young mother who lived a few doors away and did not want to be named said: “It was hell to be honest.
‘The backyards are now full of rats. I can no longer let my son play in the garden.
And the smell in the summer is just terrible.’
Another neighbor said: ‘People come to her house all day long to deliver birds and food.
‘What’s going on in that house? It’s time for the authorities to do something. I just feel like something really strange is going on.”
Liverpool City Council did not respond for comment.
The RSPCA was contacted for comment.
People can donate to Ms Mooney’s go fund me page at