Apple Valley, MN Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

The bird protection rule in the Apple Valley Code of Ordinances sits in the park regulations, not in a wildlife chapter. Section 95.03(K), headed Park animals, provides that no person shall disturb or interfere with any birds or animals kept or found therein. The word found brings wild birds on park grounds inside the rule, and the word kept covers animals held there by the city.

Section 95.03(I) adds the harvest side. It bars any person from discharging or displaying any firearms, air guns, shot guns, rifles, pistols, revolvers, air rifles or BB guns, and it states that hunting or trapping is prohibited. The use of bows and arrows is prohibited except in designated areas. Together the two subsections mean a bird cannot be harassed, trapped or shot inside an Apple Valley park.

The chapter's purpose clause explains the reach. Section 95.01 says the chapter secures the orderly and suitable use and enjoyment of public parks, city recreation areas and facilities, city-wide trail systems, wildlife sanctuaries, forests, historical sites and public access to lakes, rivers and streams, in parks established by the city. A park under § 95.02 is a park, playground, beach or other area within the city, owned, leased or used, wholly or in part, by the city for park and recreational purposes or designated by the City Council as a park.

Section 95.03(U) exempts city agents, employees and police officers acting in their official capacity. The animal chapter draws a separate line for pets: it defines household pet birds as any of the class Aves that are caged or kept inside the residence, excluding all farm poultry, and its farm poultry definition lists chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons, swans, and doves. Those definitions govern private keeping, while § 95.03(K) governs conduct toward birds within parks. The general penalty in § 10.99 applies, since chapter 95 prints no penalty section of its own.