Berwyn, IL Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Berwyn Code of Ordinances § 616.14(B) bars every person from feeding, or causing the feeding of, wild or feral animals and birds anywhere in the city, subject to the residential exception in division (C). Feeding means spreading, casting, laying, depositing or dumping feed on any property. Feed includes bird seed, bird feed, corn or any like substance an animal can eat. Wild or feral animals and birds are any animal or bird not normally considered domesticated, with pigeon, vulture, sparrow, morning dove, starling and crow named as examples, and the definition excludes animals kept as pets inside a residence or outside in a cage.

The residential exception has strict conditions. All feed goes in a container, receptacle or feeder designed for feeding wild or feral animals and birds. Each feeder is designed to limit spillage and cannot exceed two feet long by 16 inches wide by 16 inches high, and it is installed at least three feet off the ground. A lot of record gets no more than two feeders, with one additional feeder for every 3,750 square feet of lot area beyond the 7,500 square foot minimum residential lot size.

Placement limits protect neighbors. No feeder can sit within 15 feet of any other residential building (house, condominium, townhouse, two-flat or apartment building) besides the one on the same lot, none within five feet of any lot line, and none in a required front yard as defined in Chapter 1240 of the Planning and Zoning Code.

Division (D) declares it a nuisance for anyone to feed wild or feral animals or birds other than in full compliance with the chapter. Berwyn's list of banned feed targets is pigeons and similar birds, so a backyard seed feeder within the size and setback rules is legal, while scattering seed or bread on the ground is not.