Flagler County, FL Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Sec. 23-2(7) of the Flagler County Code prohibits anyone in a public park or recreation area from possessing, hunting, molesting, harming, frightening, killing, trapping, pursuing, chasing, teasing, shooting or throwing missiles at "any animal, wildlife, reptile or bird or their eggs or nests." The list of prohibited acts is unusually broad, reaching not just killing or capturing wildlife but also merely frightening, chasing or teasing it, and it extends the same protection to eggs and nests, which shields nesting shorebirds and other ground-nesting species common along Flagler County's parks and preserves.

The provision sits alongside related restrictions in the same section: Sec. 23-2(2) and (3) bar digging up soil, rock or plants and damaging trees, shrubs or plant life within a park, and Sec. 23-2(17) bars discharging fireworks or open flame that could disturb wildlife habitat except with a permit for a special event. Together, the section functions as a broad natural-resource protection rule for county-managed park and preserve land, not a wildlife-specific ordinance standing alone.

Because it is codified in Chapter 23, "Parks and Recreation," the protection reaches only property the county itself operates as a park, preserve or recreation area within unincorporated Flagler County. It is not a general county animal cruelty or wildlife statute covering private land countywide; that subject is addressed separately in Chapter 5, Animals, and it does not apply inside Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Beverly Beach, Bunnell or Marineland, each of which manages its own parks under its own code.