Vineland, NJ Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Vineland's park use rules, codified at Chapter 507, Article II, protect wildlife inside the City's public parks and recreation areas from more than hunting. Section 507-7A(8) makes it unlawful for anyone in a park to hunt, molest, harm, frighten, kill, trap, pursue, chase, tease, shoot or throw missiles at any animal, wildlife, reptile or bird, and it separately bars removing or possessing the young of any wild animal or the eggs, nest or young of any reptile or bird. The only carve-out in the section is for snakes known to be deadly poisonous or other deadly reptiles, which may be killed on sight for public safety.

The same subsection sits alongside other park protections that reinforce it: Subsection A(5) bars damaging, cutting or transplanting any tree or plant or picking flowers or seed, and Subsection A(7) bars tying or hitching an animal to any tree or plant, so the wildlife rule is part of a broader scheme to keep Vineland's parks undisturbed. The Recreation Commission and any park attendant are authorized under Section 507-10 to enforce these prohibited acts directly, including ejecting violators from the park and seizing property used in a violation, and the article is also enforced by the Vineland Police Department.

A conviction for violating the wildlife protection is punishable under Chapter 507's general penalty provision, Section 507-13, which applies the fine and imprisonment scale set out in Chapter 1, Article II, General Penalty, of the Code of the City of Vineland.