Orem, UT Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Section 5-1-3 of Orem City Code, part of Chapter 5 (Animal Control), lists this bird protection among the chapter's other cruelty prohibitions: it is unlawful for any person to take or kill any bird, or to rob or destroy any nest, egg, or young of any bird in violation of the laws of the State of Utah. Because the ordinance tracks state wildlife statutes, it reaches migratory songbirds, raptors, and other species already protected under Utah and federal law, and lets Orem's own Police Department cite a violator under city law without waiting on a state wildlife officer.

The section sits inside the same article that bans cruelty to animals generally, willfully or maliciously killing, maiming, torturing, or poisoning any animal, and abandoning or hobbling an animal, all charged under Article 5-1. Orem's animal control services fall to the Police Department under Article 5-2, while the North Utah Valley Animal Services Special Service District handles shelter and impound functions. There is no separate bird-specific permit or hunting-season carve-out in the municipal code itself; the city ordinance simply incorporates whatever the state currently prohibits, so anyone who traps, shoots, poisons, or otherwise destroys a wild bird or its nest, eggs, or young inside Orem, in a manner the state itself forbids, is exposed to city prosecution.