Bergenfield, NJ Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Bergenfield regulates wildlife feeding through two separate articles of Chapter 95. Article III, adopted by Ordinance No. 2136 in 1992, is narrow and site-specific: Section 95-18 makes it unlawful for any person to feed any migratory waterfowl in Cooper Pond Park in the Borough of Bergenfield, covering swans, geese, ducks, and any other waterfowl under federal Fish and Wildlife Service jurisdiction as defined in Section 95-17. The Health Officer, Police Department, and Supervisor of Parks all have authority to issue a summons under Section 95-19 when they see or learn of feeding there, answerable before the Municipal Judge.

Thirteen years later, Article VI, adopted by Ordinance No. 05-2354 in 2005, went Borough-wide: Section 95-27A bars anyone from feeding any wildlife, defined broadly in Section 95-26 as all animals that are neither human nor domesticated, on any public park or any other property the Borough of Bergenfield owns or operates. The only carve-out is confined wildlife, such as animals in a zoo, park enclosure, or rehabilitation center, or unconfined wildlife at an environmental education center. The Police Department or other municipal officials enforce Article VI, and Section 95-27C lets an officer order feeding to stop immediately on the spot, separate from any summons.

Neither article reaches feeding on private property, and neither names deer specifically, so a resident feeding deer or birds in their own yard falls outside both provisions; only feeding on Borough-owned land, or waterfowl specifically in Cooper Pond Park, is regulated.