Cincinnati, OH Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Chapter 604, titled Rat Control, houses §604-17, 'Unapproved Bird, Fowl or Animal Feeding,' ordained by Ord. No. 532-1983, effective December 16, 1983. It doesn't ban feeding wildlife outright, it targets the rat-attraction risk of unattended, ground-level food. Anyone who puts food outdoors, or allows food to be put outdoors, to nourish birds, fowl, or animals must not leave it unattended unless it sits in an aboveground-level birdfeed container; unattended food at ground level that could draw rats violates the section regardless of which species it's meant for.

The code carves out one clear exception: persons feeding an injured or stray animal for the purpose of capturing and harboring it, for example, luring a hurt bird or stray cat to catch and shelter it, are not in violation of §604-17. Enforcement runs through the Board of Health's rat-control inspectors, who under the neighboring §604-11 have access at all reasonable times to inspect premises for rat harborage and feeding conditions. Because the section sits inside the rat-control chapter rather than a wildlife chapter, deer, geese, and other named nuisance species aren't singled out; the operative language covers 'birds, fowl or animals' broadly and turns on the container, not the species being fed.