Pender County, NC Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Pender County Code § 28-33 protects wildlife specifically within county park areas: it is unlawful for any person to hunt, shoot, injure or molest any bird or animal, and unlawful for any person to have any wild bird or animal in his possession, while inside a park operated by the county's parks and recreation department. The section sits in Chapter 28, Article II, Division 1 ('In General'), alongside the park's pet and wildlife-release rule (§ 28-32, barring pets and horses in parks except service animals, and barring release of waterfowl, deer, rabbits or other animals there) and the firearms-in-parks rule (§ 28-28, which bars air guns, bows and other weapons except for authorized events like archery programs).

Read together, the three sections form the park's wildlife-protection scheme: animals may not be brought in or released, may not be harmed, and may not be taken into possession. Enforcement runs through § 28-48, which puts park personnel, their designee, and any authorized law enforcement officer with jurisdiction in charge of the division. A conviction is a misdemeanor under G.S. 14-4, fined not more than $50.00 or punished by up to 30 days' imprisonment, and the county can separately pursue a $100.00 civil penalty per offense under G.S.

153A-123(c), rising to $500.00 for a repeat violation, recovered as a civil debt after a certified-mail demand for payment. The rule does not reach hunting or wildlife activity outside park boundaries, which North Carolina wildlife law and the state's hunting seasons govern instead.