Laurens County, SC Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Sec. 28-2(a) lists unlawful acts on property owned, operated or controlled by the Laurens County Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. Subsection (2) bans killing, harming or harassing any mammal, bird, reptile or amphibian found on that property, except when the department has issued a permit allowing it, for example for a wildlife-management program. Subsection (3) separately bans hunting in any park area outright, without a permit exception, and subsection (4) protects the plant side of the same habitat by banning the destruction, cutting, breaking, removal or gathering of any tree, shrub, other plant, rock, mineral or geological feature except by department permit.

Read together, the subsections cover the wildlife and natural features found on Laurens County park land, from songbirds and turtles to the trees they nest and shelter in. Sec. 28-2(b) requires the county to post the unlawful-acts list, including the wildlife protection, in a conspicuous place at each park or facility for visitors and staff to see. Sec. 28-2(c) sets the penalty for any violation of the section, including harming protected wildlife, as a misdemeanor with a fine or jail time set within magistrate's court's penalty jurisdiction.

The protection applies only on county park and recreation property; it does not create a county-wide wildlife protection law for private land in unincorporated Laurens County.