DEAR JOAN >> My next-door neighbor is feeding the crows peanuts and cat food, and the problem is these crows eat this food over my property and make a huge mess over our cars and driveway.

Is this legal and what can we do to stop this from happening?

— Jim Albert, San Jose

DEAR JIM >> Technically, your neighbor is breaking the law, but you shouldn’t expect the bird police to knock on the door and make an arrest.

State and federal laws prohibit the harassment of any wild animal, from bears to finches. The laws define harassment as any intentional act that disrupts the natural behavior of the animals, and that includes feeding them.

When it comes to feeding birds, however, officials mostly look the other way, because there’s nothing in the act that is disrupting the bird’s natural behavior.

You can try reporting your neighbor to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, but it’s doubtful you’ll get much satisfaction. The DFW will act in cases where the number of birds being attracted to a yard is excessive, or the food itself is causing harm. This doesn’t sound like such a case.

If you’ve asked your neighbor to stop or change the food — cat food is not a good choice for any animal other than a cat — and they have refused, there’s always small claims court. You’d need to prove the crows are causing damage to your property or your right to peacefully enjoy your yard.

You might have better luck trying to scare the crows out of your yard. The best way to do that is to get a fake crow and, under cover of darkness, hang it upside down in a prominent place in your yard, where the crows are certain to see it come sunrise. I’ve heard from scores of people who have successfully tried this.

DEAR JOAN >> We’ve been feeding a stray cat for several years. There hasn’t been a problem until the last few months.

Normally, we feed her on the patio right outside the sliding door. Sometimes there are flies or other insects invading her food, and at night, sometimes other critters find her food dish, but generally this works out OK. Lately however, we’ve had an invasion of ants finding her food, day or night.

For a while, we thought we had this problem solved by feeding her inside. We have a mat just inside the sliding door and and were feeding her there. Unfortunately, the ants got smart and now they come in the house and swarm on her food dish.

Our dilemma is how to treat them without putting harmful chemicals in the cat’s way. We’ve tried the new insect killer called Zevo, which is supposed to be not harmful to people or pets. It definitely kills the ants, but they just keep coming back.

Do you have a suggestion for how to handle this situation?

— Art, San Jose

DEAR ART >> I hope when you say the ants keep coming back, you don’t mean the dead ones. I couldn’t handle zombie ants.

I’d suggest placing the food dish in the center of a shallow pan filled with water, which the ants can’t or won’t cross. Make sure the dish doesn’t touch the sides of the pan, but is close enough to allow the cat to reach the food without wetting her paws.

Contact Joan Morris at jmorris@bayareanewsgroup.com.