Moore County, NC Animal Ordinances: Coyote Management (2026)

' The rule sits inside the same section that bars keeping dangerous nondomestic animals generally, and it is framed as a possession restriction on private keeping of the animal, not a county wildlife-management program. Moore County's own code does not authorize county-run coyote culls, hazing protocols, or a feeding ban aimed at wild, free-ranging coyotes; those wildlife-management questions, including hunting and trapping seasons for coyotes on private land, are handled at the state level by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission rather than by county ordinance.

What the county ordinance does reach is a person who wants to keep a coyote or coyote hybrid in captivity as a pet, exhibit, or similar use: that person needs the Commission's permit, and possessing the animal without one is a violation enforced by Moore County Animal Operations and the Sheriff's Office. General trapping rules in Section 4-3(p) separately restrict leg-hold and similar traps near residences and ban traps set for the sole purpose of catching domestic pets, which can incidentally affect how a coyote may lawfully be trapped on private land. Violations of Section 4-8 carry the Chapter 4 general penalty under Section 4-10.