After years of receiving complaints about the presence and effects of vultures around West Queen Street, the Town of Hillsborough is suing a pair of residents to try and put an end to their attraction of the birds.
The local government filed a complaint to start a civil lawsuit against Ken and Linda Ostrand on March 17, asking for a court injunction to have the 208 West Queen Street couple stop feeding and encouraging black vultures to roost at their property. Filed by Hillsborough’s general counsel Robert Hornik Jr., the document says the town and its residents have been “harmed by the continued attraction of vultures” and cites the Ostrands’ violation of its wildlife ordinance about feeding animals. In response, the Ostrands claim their activity with the vultures has “largely ceased” since Nov. 2024.
The lawsuit is just the latest example of tension between the Town of Hillsborough and the Ostrands, who moved to their West Queen Street address — the historic Berry Brick House — in 2017. As detailed in its complaint, the local government began hearing stories from concerned residents in May 2024 about large numbers of vulture congregating at the Ostrands property and the surrounding neighborhood. After hearing testimony from one neighbor and town staff during a Jan. 2025 meeting about the adverse impact of vultures around their West Queen Street property and the Hillsborough Police Department half a mile away, the town’s Board of Commissioners vowed it would review its rules. It passed an update to its wildlife ordinance one month later saying residents cannot attract animals using methods other than “naturally growing materials,” bird feeders and feeders for either domestic animals or livestock.
The changes, however, did not update enforcement methods — meaning that if a complaint is made to Hillsborough Police and they find someone in violation, the maximum penalty is a $74 fine per day and a potential misdemeanor charge. According to its complaint, the town government sent a cease and desist letter to the Ostrands on Oct. 20, 2025 but the warning did little to sway their habits.
“Since the adoption of [the ordinance update],” the town’s lawsuit reads, “Mr. and Mrs. Ostrand have been observed placing or distributing on their Property various materials, believed to be food scraps, which attract various wild animals, but in this action, the concern is the attraction of vultures to the Property and to the nearby properties. As recently as early February 2026, Mr. Ostrand was observed placing some material, believed to be food scraps, on the ground at the Property. Moments after Mr. Ostrand set out the food scraps, vultures swarmed the Property to, presumably, feast on whatever food scraps Mr. Ostrand had placed there.”
An undated photo submitted by Michael Beanland to the Town of Hillsborough in 2024/2025 saying it is because his neighbors, the Ostrandsm, feed them. (Photo via Michael Beanland.)
As a result, the town is looking for the court to issue an order restraining and enjoining the Ostrands from putting food out for vultures and other wildlife that violate the ordinance. Hornik argues that the “repeated actions” of the Ostrands to feed and attract vultures “poses danger to the health, safety and welfare of Town residents” — including the birds’ excrement, which the town cited as creating messes on public and private sidewalks and being difficult to clean.
The Ostrands’ answer was received on the final day within the 30-day window of response to Hillsborough’s civil summons. In it, the husband and wife wrote that since the ordinance was passed, there has been “almost complete reduction in the number of birds, with the exception of their normal flight activities” at their property. Although The Assembly reported the Ostrands fed a pair of vultures with injuries which they’ve nicknamed Morticia and Chester, the pair also claimed they have not widely fed the birds since Nov. 2024, saying the information in the complaint is “outdated” and lacks enough information to prove they were feeding the scavenger birds.
“The Ostrands would point out that there are no usages of this misdemeanor statute in more than year against anyone feeding deer, squirrels or other animals or birds in Hillsborough, or against anyone other than the Ostrands. In short, the Ostrands request that this Civil Summons be dismissed on the grounds that it is out of date, misinterprets flying and roosting as feeding, is based on hearsay rather than fact, and is no longer relevant. The Ostrands feel they are being targeted unfairly for situation that no longer exists.”
Black vultures are a federally protected species under The Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Because of that status, the Town of Hillsborough and residents have limited ways of trying to scare or shoo off the birds. (Photo via Norman Welsh/FOAR/Friends of Anahuac Refuge.)
The Town of Hillsborough declined to provide a statement to Chapelboro on its lawsuit, while the Ostrands did not respond to a request for comment. But Ken Ostrand did speak with Chapelboro in Feb. 2025 after the town passed its updated wildlife ordinance. At the time, he said he’d not thought about changing his habits based on the new rules and indicated he would let Hillsborough figure out how to enforce it.
“I really [do] such a little bit of this thing that it seems to me to be such a big ‘nothing,'” Ostrand said. “If they want to send the police out and handcuff me, take me down, poke me with a scarlet letter, they can certainly do that. But it seems to me they’d have to get up pretty early in the morning or late at night.
Part of the Ostrands’ answer to the town’s complaint was a note about the Return of Service on their civil summons not being properly filled out, angling for that element of Hillsborough’s legal approach to be grounds for dismissal. Paperwork accessible through North Carolina’s eCourts portal shows the summons were executed on March 17, but the copy also does not include the Ostrands’ info that is required to be filled out by the suing party and its summoner.
As of Wednesday, Chapelboro has not been able to confirm an upcoming court date for the Town of Hillsborough’s civil case against the Ostrands.
Featured photos via the Town of Hillsborough court filing.
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