Durham, NC Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)
Key Facts
- Zone covered
- Entire corporate limits of the city
- Prohibited acts
- Trap, hunt, shoot, molest birds; rob nests
- Exception
- Nuisance starlings/pigeons, by Public Safety Director
- Penalty
- Misdemeanor
- Last amended
- Ord. No. 15982, Aug. 1, 2022
Summary
Durham designates its entire corporate limits a bird sanctuary. City Code § 6-2 makes it unlawful to trap, hunt, shoot at, or molest any bird or wildfowl, or rob a nest, anywhere in the city: with one narrow exception letting the director of public safety authorize destroying nuisance flocks of starlings, pigeons, or similar birds that threaten health or damage property.
(a) Designation of city. The entire area embraced within the corporate limits of the city is hereby designated as a bird sanctuary. (b) Trapping, shooting birds or wildfowl. It shall be unlawful to trap, hunt, shoot or attempt to shoot or molest in any manner any bird or wildfowl or to rob bird nests or wildfowl nests; provided, however, that if starlings, pigeons, or similar birds are found to be congregating in such numbers in a particular locality that they constitute a nuisance or menace to health or deface property, in the opinion of the director of public safety, and no satisfactory alternative is found to abate such nuisance, such birds may be destroyed in such numbers and in such manner as is deemed advisable by the director of public safety. (c) In addition to any other remedy available in the Code, violation of this section is a misdemeanor.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 36).
Full Breakdown
Section 6-2 traces back to the 1964 and 1982 city codes and was last amended by Ordinance No. 15982 in 2022. Subsection (a) declares the entire area embraced within the corporate limits of the city a bird sanctuary: a citywide designation, not a park-by-park one. Subsection (b) then bans trapping, hunting, shooting, attempting to shoot, or otherwise molesting any bird or wildfowl, and separately bans robbing bird or wildfowl nests, anywhere in that zone. The only carve-out runs through the director of public safety: if starlings, pigeons, or similar birds are congregating in numbers that, in the director's opinion, constitute a nuisance or menace to health or deface property, and no satisfactory alternative is found to abate the nuisance, those birds may be destroyed in whatever numbers and manner the director deems advisable.
S. 14-360. Unlike the city's dog and leash rules, which are handled by county animal-control ordinances adopted by reference, this bird sanctuary rule is directly enacted city code, so it applies as written inside Durham's municipal boundary regardless of which county the property sits in.
Violations & Fines
Violating § 6-2, trapping, shooting at, or otherwise molesting a bird or nest anywhere in Durham, is a misdemeanor, on top of any other remedy the Code allows. The one lawful exception runs through the director of public safety: nuisance flocks of starlings, pigeons, or similar birds may be destroyed only after the director finds a health menace or property damage and no satisfactory alternative exists.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it illegal to shoot birds anywhere in Durham?
Can the city ever remove nuisance birds like pigeons?
Does the bird sanctuary rule apply on private land inside the city?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Durham
Compare Durham to another location·View the North Carolina animal ordinances overview
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