Hendersonville, TN Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Hendersonville's bird sanctuary ordinance, adopted by Ordinance 1980-3 in March 1980, covers the whole corporate area, not just parks or public land. Section 10-301 declares 'the entire area embraced within the corporate limits of the City of Hendersonville, Tennessee...a Bird Sanctuary.' Inside that boundary, § 10-302 flatly bars trapping, shooting, or otherwise molesting 'any bird or wildfowl,' and separately bars robbing bird or wildfowl nests. No private permit or exception exists for residents, hunters, or pest-control contractors; the prohibition runs against interference 'in any manner.'

The ordinance reserves two narrow removal powers to city government alone. Under § 10-303, if starlings or similar birds congregate in numbers the city's or Sumner County's health authorities judge a nuisance or menace to health or property, those birds may be destroyed, but only as the health authorities direct and only under the supervision of the Hendersonville Chief of Police. A separate section, § 10-304, lets the city eradicate any bird or waterfowl that has become an immediate threat to resident safety. Both routes belong to city government, not to individual property owners who dislike nesting birds or nuisance flocks on their own land.

Anyone who violates the chapter, whether by shooting a protected bird, robbing a nest, or otherwise molesting wildfowl, is 'punishable by a fine of not more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for each violation' under § 10-305, with each bird or incident potentially charged as a separate offense.