Norman, OK Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

NCC 4-302(a) makes it unlawful to trap, hunt, shoot, kill, destroy, capture, or molest any wild bird within Norman, and extends the same protection to robbing or molesting a wild bird's nest. The section carves out two specific exceptions rather than a general hunting allowance. The first covers people hunting and killing game birds under laws and regulations set by the federal government, the State of Oklahoma, or the City itself, and only within the areas the City separately permits for that activity under NCC ch.

24. The second exception is narrow and staff-specific: City employees authorized by the Police Chief or the Animal Welfare Supervisor can eliminate starlings, pigeons, or other wild birds when those birds have multiplied or congregated to the point of constituting or potentially constituting a health hazard or nuisance to Norman residents, but even that authorized elimination has to stay within State and federal wildlife law. Because the general prohibition reaches molesting a nest as well as the bird itself, disturbing eggs or a nest structure without falling into one of the two exceptions is covered by the same ban as directly harming the bird.