Parker, CO Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Section 8.05.070 of the Parker Municipal Code makes it unlawful for anyone to willfully and unnecessarily shoot, capture, harass, injure or destroy a wild bird or animal, or to attempt to do so, anywhere in Town, and separately bars destroying, robbing or disturbing a nest, nesting place, burrow, eggs or young. The Code defines wild bird broadly to cover every undomesticated bird native to North America, government-implanted game birds, and any released domestic duck or goose found on a Town recreational area. Wild animal covers any animal native to Colorado, but the Town carves out rattlesnakes, fish, amphibians, Norway rats and common house mice, so those species fall outside this specific protection.

The Section exempts police, fire and animal control personnel and Colorado Parks and Wildlife or other state and federal agency employees acting within their official duties, and it does not authorize destroying any bird or animal otherwise protected by state or federal law. Because § 8.05.070 is not on the short list of Title 8 offenses that Parker treats as civil infractions, a violation is prosecuted as a criminal misdemeanor. Parker Municipal Code § 8.01.040 sets the Town's default Title 8 penalty scale for adults: a fine of not less than $25.00 nor more than $1,000.00 per count, imprisonment not exceeding 364 days, or both, with the Municipal Court also empowered to order restitution and up to 100 hours of useful public service.

The Parker Police Department, which handles animal services for the Town, enforces this Section separately from the Town's livestock and dog-and-cat keeping rules in Title 9.