Greenville, NC Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Sec. 12-2-43(A) creates a bird sanctuary covering the entire corporate limits of the city, a designation that predates and sits alongside the chapter's other wildlife and dangerous-animal provisions. S. 113-274(c)(1a) or another North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission license or permit specifically made valid for use inside the city. A "protected bird" is defined by exclusion: the ordinance protects any bird except one classed as a pest under three named state statutes covering the use of poisons and pesticides, the Structural Pest Control Act of 1955, and the North Carolina Pesticide Law of 1971.

In practice, the ordinance layers a blanket local no-take zone on top of the state's general hunting permit system: a hunter carrying an ordinary statewide license still cannot lawfully take a bird inside Greenville without the specific city-valid Wildlife Resources Commission authorization the section describes. Enforcement of this sanctuary runs through the Animal Protective Services Division and the Greenville Police Department, using the chapter's standard escalating civil citation process alongside the criminal misdemeanor penalty separately attached to the section.