Bossier City, LA Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Section 14-3 of the Bossier City Code confirms the entire city as a bird sanctuary. Every bird, aside from those the city determines to be a nuisance, is protected from molestation, wounding, slaughter, trapping, shooting, and having its nest robbed, along with similar acts that harm birds or their habitats. City administration must post signs on the major traffic arteries at the city limits announcing the bird sanctuary status.

The ordinance builds in a health and property exception: city officials recognize some birds can become a nuisance or health hazard, and the city investigates and abates such situations in whatever manner the administration deems appropriate. Killing birds is treated as a last resort, only used once other abatement methods prove ineffective or infeasible. Barksdale Air Force Base carries its own carve-out, letting the base run an ongoing bird-control program for flight-safety hazards on or near the installation, or when birds pose a health concern to base residents, without running afoul of the sanctuary rule.

Enforcement runs through the mayor or the mayor's designee, who has general authority to enforce chapter 14 under section 14-1. A violation of the bird sanctuary rule is charged as a misdemeanor and punished under the citywide general penalty in section 1-9: up to a $500.00 fine, up to 60 days in jail, or both, at the sentencing court's discretion, with every day a violation continues treated as a separate offense.