Alameda, CA Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Alameda Point, the former Naval Air Station on the western end of the island, hosts one of the region's colonies of the California least tern, a state and federally listed endangered species. To protect it, Alameda Municipal Code Section 30-4.24.g.8, part of the Use Regulations for the Alameda Point District, prohibits feral cat feeding stations and colonies anywhere in the district, along with the feeding of any native or non-native wildlife species that is a potential predator of the least tern. Predators drawn to feeding sites, whether raccoons, gulls or free-roaming cats, threaten the tern colony directly, so the code targets the feeding activity itself rather than only the animals.

The same subsection pairs the feeding ban with a seasonal restriction tied to the tern's nesting cycle: fireworks displays and aircraft operation are not permitted anywhere in the district between April 1 and August 15 each year. Both rules sit in the district's general Use Regulations, Section 30-4.24.g, alongside other Alameda Point-specific standards, such as the requirement that any proposed use not listed in the district's Table B of allowed uses must be found substantially similar to a permitted use before it can proceed.

This is a district-specific rule tied to Alameda Point's shoreline and open-space sub-districts; it does not extend to residential neighborhoods elsewhere on the island, where feeding stray cats is not separately addressed in the zoning code.