Apex, NC Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)
Key Facts
- Scope
- Entire town, town-owned land
- Protected
- All native wild birds
- Exception
- Nuisance starlings/crows, with permit
- Penalty
- Misdemeanor, G.S. 14-4
- Enacted
- Ord. No. 2024-045, 5-28-2024
Summary
Apex, North Carolina designates the entire town a bird sanctuary, making it unlawful to trap, hunt, shoot or kill native wild birds within town limits.
(a) The area embraced within the corporate limits of the town and all land owned or leased by the town outside the corporate limits is hereby designated as a bird sanctuary. (b) It shall be unlawful intentionally to trap, hunt, shoot or otherwise kill, within the sanctuary hereby established, any native wild bird; provided, it shall be lawful to trap or otherwise destroy starlings, crows or similar birds or fowl when such birds or fowl are found to congregate in such numbers... A violation of this section is punishable as a misdemeanor as provided by G.S. 14-4.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 3).
Full Breakdown
Apex Town Code § 14-28 designates the whole corporate limits, plus any town-owned or leased land outside them, as a bird sanctuary. It is unlawful to intentionally trap, hunt, shoot or otherwise kill any native wild bird within the sanctuary. A carve-out lets the town control nuisance species: starlings, crows and similar birds may be trapped or destroyed if they congregate and cause serious property damage, and a permit from the chief of police is required to use poison for that purpose. This is a Town Code (general-code) provision, not a UDO/zoning standard, and it applies townwide, not just in the zoning ETJ. It was reenacted by Ord. No. 2024-045 in 2024 after the prior bird-sanctuary section (former § 14-38) was repealed and folded back into § 14-28, cite § 14-28, not § 14-38.
Violations & Fines
Trapping, hunting, shooting or killing a native wild bird anywhere within Apex town limits is a misdemeanor under G.S. 14-4, unless it falls under the nuisance-species/police-permit exception.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I shoot or trap a wild bird in my Apex yard?
Are crows and starlings protected too?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Apex
Compare Apex to another location·View the North Carolina animal ordinances overview
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Bird Protection in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Wake County handle bird protection.