There’s probably nothing about city life more stereotypically wholesome than the sight of an elderly patron snug on a public park bench feeding the birds (or maybe even some squirrels). So, prepare to be amazed by the corrupting power of billionaire wealth to pervert this classic retirement hobby.

Local officials in Chicago’s 43rd Ward have accused 94-year-old electronics billionaire Barre Seid of creating a “public health hazard” by hiring goons to “place nuts, seeds and other foods” around his home and nearby Lincoln Park, according to a city document reported by Axios. Seid’s delegated recreational feeding of local wildlife, according to the city, has attracted “flocks of pigeons, whose droppings have in turn attracted a significant rat infestation” in the three years that the billionaire has been funding this dubious animal welfare program.

Seid—a notorious recluse best known for donating his entire $1.6 billion electronics company to fund “attack philanthropy” that promotes climate change denialism and other right-wing causes—has reportedly paid every fine thrown at him to deter his intervention into Lincoln Park’s ecosystem. And, to be clear, his contract operatives are not merely tossing out bread crumbs and a little bit of trail mix but large canvas bags’ worth of snacks.

“When I describe this to people, this gets into the stranger than fiction aspect of it,” Lincoln Park resident Caroline Novak told Chicago’s WGN-TV last month. “It’s like a luxury melange of really nice nuts.”

“I’m talking Brazil nuts, walnuts […] I’m no arborist, but these do not come from these trees,” according to Novak, who was apparently one of the first to spot Seid’s paid nut-distributors in action.

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