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

Division 2 of Chapter 18 sets the rules for every park and recreational area the county owns or operates, and Section 18-31 makes it unlawful to do any of the acts specified in the division within park limits. Section 18-34 covers wildlife and pets together. Subsection (a) restricts dogs, cats and other animals from park grounds unless leashed and under the owner's control, except at Lake Panasoffkee Recreational Parks where no animals are permitted at all. Subsection (b), the bird-protection rule, is broader: it bars catching, injuring, destroying or interfering in any way with birds, squirrels or any wild animal found in a county park, and it carves out only one exception, for poisonous reptiles, which a visitor may still kill or remove for safety.

The rule traces to Ordinance No. 77-9, § 7(b) and (i), adopted August 17, 1977, and was last amended by Ordinance No. 2015-06, § 3B on April 14, 2015. Because the provision sits inside the park-rules division, it reaches only county-owned parks and recreation areas, such as Wahoo Community Park, Marsh Bend "Outlet" Park and Lake Okahumpka Park; it does not create a county-wide wildlife-protection ordinance covering private land. Enforcement follows the same path as the rest of Chapter 18: park rangers, code enforcement staff or the Sheriff's Office can cite a visitor caught catching or harming park wildlife under this section.