Kern County, CA Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

010 designates a specific tract of land in Sections 27, 28, 33 and 34, Township 11 North, Range 9 West, SBB&M, as the North Edwards Bird Sanctuary, and bars anyone from trapping, hunting, shooting or attempting to shoot, or otherwise molesting any bird or wild fowl, or robbing bird nests, anywhere inside that boundary. The county carves out one narrow exception: a homeowner may remove a bird nest attached to their own dwelling if the occupants consider it a nuisance, since the ordinance is aimed at protecting the sanctuary's wild bird population rather than every nest on private structures.

If birds or fowl congregate in the sanctuary in numbers the county health department views as a nuisance or a menace to health or property, the department must first meet and confer with local groups, named in the code as the North Edwards Tumbleweeds Garden Club, the Audubon Society Bird Club, Garden Club, or Humane Society, on at least three days' actual notice, before any birds may be destroyed, and even then destruction is left to the health department's sole discretion. 010, and the Tumbleweeds Garden Club is separately authorized to erect its own sign identifying North Edwards as a bird sanctuary, subject to normal sign regulations. 010 of the county code, a general provision, is also expressly kept in force for the North Edwards community alongside this section.