Waynesville, MO Animal Ordinances: Bird Protection (2026)

Section 215.090, titled "Animal Cruelty and Animal Hoarding," lists killing or wounding, or attempting to kill or wound, or taking the eggs or young of "any game, wild animal or song bird" as one of several acts it declares unlawful anywhere in the City of Waynesville, alongside beating, underfeeding, overloading, overworking, tormenting or abandoning any animal, and knowingly poisoning a domestic animal. The bird and game clause sits inside the city's general cruelty law rather than a standalone wildlife ordinance, so it protects wild birds and game animals within city limits the same way the rest of § 215.090 protects domestic and other animals from cruelty.

The section carves out one exception unrelated to birds: common rat poison mixed only with vegetable or grain substances may still be used for property protection if it is not readily accessible to household pets. Section 212.020 separately adopts the Missouri Wildlife Code by reference for state-regulated hunting and wildlife matters, but § 215.090's own words on song birds, game and their eggs or young are the city's independent cruelty prohibition, enforced by the Animal Control Officer alongside Waynesville Police. The section was adopted by Ord. No. 2152 on April 16, 2015, and amended by Ord. No. 2392 on November 21, 2019, when the parked-vehicle clauses were added.