Asheville, NC Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Sec. 3-9(a)(6) of the Asheville City Code makes it a public nuisance to keep, possess, harbor, feed or attract wild, feral or domesticated animals in a manner that threatens public health, safety or welfare, specifically naming the attraction of bears or other wild animals that endangers humans, wildlife or domestic animals or damages property. The section defines 'danger' to include the risk of human injury or death, increased disease transmission between species, and increased risk of injury or death to bears, livestock or companion animals.

The ordinance carves out an explicit protection: nothing in the section bars keeping or maintaining a bird feeder or feeding birds, unless that activity becomes an attractant and the animal control officer or a police officer orders it stopped. Enforcement backup comes from Sec. 3-7(a)(9), which lets an animal control officer, at his or her sole discretion, issue orders or warnings about bears or other wild animals present in an area and direct residents to remove or secure attractants such as unsecured garbage within 14 days.

Ignoring that order is itself a violation carrying a civil penalty under Appendix B to the City Code, enforceable anywhere inside Asheville's corporate limits. Because the ordinance folds attractant control into the broader public-nuisance section, a resident who refuses a removal order after receiving one under Sec. 3-9(a)(11) commits a second, separate violation for defying the warning.