Minnetonka, MN Animal Ordinances: Coyote Management (2026)

The Minnetonka City Council's code regulates wildlife control through the city's own deer management program, in section 1010.030 of the Minnetonka City Code. Subdivision 1 bars a person from obstructing or interfering with the program, or from threatening, intimidating, obstructing or interfering with an authorized city employee or agent carrying it out. Subdivision 2 bars touching, damaging, manipulating, disengaging, making inoperative or otherwise tampering with a deer trap or other deer removal equipment or material in use.

Subdivision 3 creates the exclusion zone. A deer management area is a parcel of privately-owned land where a deer trap, removal equipment or other program material is located, or, on publicly-owned property, the area within 100 feet of that equipment. A person must not be inside one. The section lists five affirmative defenses, each of which must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence: the person was on land he or she owns or rents; was lawfully on a public right-of-way; was attempting to contact an occupant of the premises; was a law enforcement official, firefighter, public utility employee, delivery person, or a physician, nurse or other person providing health care to humans or domestic animals, acting in the normal course of duties; or, within ten days of being informed by a police officer, provided written proof of permission from the city or its authorized agent, or from the owner or renter of the property. Evidence of a defense cannot be admitted at trial unless notice is given to the prosecution before the pretrial hearing, and giving a police officer false proof of permission is itself barred.

Subdivision 4 adds closures: a person must not go into or be in an area the city has closed to the public as part of the program if the city has provided notice by conspicuously posted signs or other reasonable means.

City parks have a parallel rule. Section 1135.020, subdivision 3 says wild animals may not be killed, trapped, pursued, caught, or removed, except when necessary to protect the immediate safety of a person or domestic animal, and the prohibition does not apply to a law enforcement officer or other person authorized by the director performing official duties. Subdivision 2 bars feeding wild animals including birds, except under a city sponsored program.