Owensboro, KY Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Section 4-3 sits inside Chapter 4, Article I, alongside the city's other wildlife and animal-keeping rules on livestock, swine, bees, and chickens, and it flatly bars shooting, pursuing, killing, or injuring any squirrel, rabbit, other game animal, or any bird or fowl anywhere within the city limits. Unlike the chicken-keeping rules a few sections later, § 4-3 carries no exception for pest control or nuisance wildlife and no permit process; it is a blanket prohibition covering both game species and birds generally, whether wild or domesticated fowl.

Because Article I does not print a standalone fine for this particular section, § 4-7 routes enforcement to the citywide general penalty in Chapter 1, § 1-11, which applies whenever the code declares conduct unlawful without stating its own fine. That general penalty sets a floor of $25 and a ceiling of $500 per offense, and treats each day a violation continues as a separate offense, so a person who keeps shooting or trapping birds or game inside the city over multiple days faces a new violation, and a new fine exposure, for every day it happens.

The provision traces back to the 1955 Code and predates the 2025 amendments that reorganized the rest of Article I around livestock and chickens, showing it has stood as the city's core wildlife-protection rule for decades without being narrowed or repealed.