New Orleans, LA Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

" The section then names specific protected sanctuaries by boundary, including Lake Vista Subdivision, Joe W. Brown Park, Tall Timbers Subdivision, the Lakeshore Bird Sanctuary along Robert E. Lee Boulevard, Village de L'est, Walnut Bend, the New Orleans East Bird Sanctuary, and the Carrollton Bird Sanctuary near Oak Street, 16 designated areas in all. If starlings or similar birds congregate in numbers the health director considers a nuisance or health menace, the director must first meet with the Audubon Agency, bird clubs, garden clubs, or humane groups on at least three days' notice before authorizing destruction of the birds, and only if no satisfactory alternative emerges from that meeting.

A narrower but separately enforced rule sits at § 18-339: "It shall be unlawful for any person owning or harboring pigeons to allow them to go at large within the city," though supervised flying, racing, or exercising of homing or Antwerp pigeons is exempt. A third, geographically specific rule bans feeding birds in the Vieux Carré's Jackson Square area, bounded by Decatur, St. Peter, Royal, and St. Ann Streets, under § 18-340, with an exception for feeding authorized in writing by the Department of Health director, including feed containing birth-control chemicals.