Jefferson Parish, LA Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Sec. 7-207 flatly bans molesting birds anywhere in the parish: it is unlawful for any person to trap, hunt, shoot or attempt to shoot or molest in any manner any bird or wild fowl, or to rob a bird nest or wild fowl nest. Sec. 7-206 lets the parish council designate specific bird sanctuaries from time to time, and one of those, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bird Sanctuary, is defined in detail at Sec. 7-209: it runs along the Greater New Orleans Expressway bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, bounded a mile north of where the bridge meets the south shore, south to the shoreline itself, and east and west by lines parallel to the bridge.

Inside that sanctuary, Sec. 7-210 adds a second, more specific prohibition on top of the general molestation ban in Sec. 7-207: no commercial or recreational boat may approach within 1,000 feet of the purple martin roosting areas along the bridge during the period from 15 minutes before sunset to 15 minutes after sunrise, when the roosting birds are most vulnerable. That boat-approach rule has one carve-out, for scientific work done under a permit from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. If starlings or similar birds congregate in numbers large enough to become a nuisance or health menace in a particular area, Sec. 7-208 directs the parish health authorities to consult with local clubs to find a solution, rather than authorizing an immediate cull or trapping response.