Manatee County, FL Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Chapter 2-24, Sports and Leisure Services and Natural Resources, applies to every county-owned or county-operated park in Manatee County per Sec. 2-24-1. Within the "Park property" article, Sec. 2-24-3(3) draws a hard line around wildlife: unless the county specifically authorizes the activity, or a person acts to prevent imminent harm to someone's life or safety, no one may hunt, molest, harm, capture, frighten, feed, kill, trap, chase, tease, shoot, or throw objects at any animal, reptile or bird on park property. Feeding sits in the same list as trapping and killing, so tossing bread to ducks at a county lake, leaving food for feral cats at a boat ramp, or baiting shorebirds for photos all fall under the same prohibition as harassing or harming the animal outright.

The section goes further and bars taking or possessing the young, eggs or nest of any covered animal, reptile or bird, which reaches raccoon dens, gopher tortoise burrows and shorebird nests on county beaches and preserves alike. The one built-in carve-out is for county-sanctioned hunting or fishing: the board may permit those activities in specific, designated and controlled park areas, and only there. " The rule sits alongside the chapter's broader natural-resource protections, including bans on removing beach sand, digging up native vegetation, and disturbing seagrass beds, reflecting the same conservation purpose behind the wildlife rule.