Asheville, NC Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Sec. 3-17 of the Asheville City Code makes the entire area inside the corporate city limits, along with any land the city owns or leases outside those limits, a bird sanctuary. Inside that sanctuary it is unlawful to shoot, hunt, kill, trap or otherwise take any bird or other wild fowl; to collect or destroy a bird's nest or eggs; or to disturb or annoy any bird, unless the person holds a permit issued by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. 2, the Structural Pest Control Act of North Carolina of 1955, or the North Carolina Pesticide Law of 1971, so licensed pest control work targeting nuisance species is not blocked by the sanctuary designation.

The ordinance dates to the original 2009 animal control code overhaul under Ordinance No. 3731 and has not been substantively amended since. Because the sanctuary covers the whole city rather than a single park or preserve, the rule reaches backyard bird nests and urban trees just as much as city parkland, and a resident who wants to remove an active nest, even an unwanted one on their own property, needs the state wildlife permit referenced in subsection (b)(3) unless the species involved is exempted as a regulated pest.