Provo, UT Animal Ordinances: Coyote Management (2026)

200, Feeding Wild Deer, Elk, Moose, or Turkey Prohibited, targets the food source that draws big game (and by extension predators like coyotes that follow deer herds) into residential Provo. It is unlawful for any person to place, distribute, or allow the placement of food, grain, minerals, or similar substances within Provo City municipal limits when it attracts wild deer, elk, moose, or turkey in such numbers or circumstances to cause property damage, endanger any person, or create public health concerns. The prohibition is conduct-based, not a flat feeding ban: the violation turns on whether the feeding actually attracts these animals in numbers or circumstances that cause harm, not on the mere presence of a bird feeder or garden.

Three activities are carved out entirely: public employees or authorized agents acting within their duties for public safety or wildlife management; normal agricultural or livestock operation practices; and recreational feeding of wild songbirds, hummingbirds, or passerine birds. That last exception has its own trigger, though: if the City has previously warned a resident to stop or modify bird feeding and the resident continues in a way that still attracts deer, elk, moose, or turkey causing property damage, danger, or health concerns, the exception no longer protects them.

Enacted in 2015 as Ordinance 2015-23, the section reflects Provo's position at the base of the Wasatch Range, where deer and elk regularly move down into residential areas in winter and household feeding compounds the problem by concentrating animals near people, pets, and traffic.