Cleveland, OH Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Cleveland Codified Ordinances Chapter 613 (Littering) folds wildlife feeding into its litter-control scheme rather than regulating it as a stand-alone wildlife rule. 02(b) makes it unlawful to litter public property by feeding pigeons, starlings, sparrows or other birds, and separately bars placing food anywhere on public property for the feeding of such birds if doing so increases the hazard of rodent infestation. 01(f) to cover all property owned, operated or controlled by any governmental agency, including streets, sidewalks, tree lawns, parks, playgrounds, parking lots, schools, libraries, post offices and municipal transit facilities -- so the ban follows a resident from a tree lawn in front of their own house to a City park bench or a transit stop.

02(a), bans depositing litter generally in those same public spaces except in authorized receptacles, and the feeding clause was written to reach the specific case of scattered bird feed rather than bagged trash. Because the section is codified under Title I, General Offenses, Part Six, Offenses and Business Activities Code, enforcement runs through the same citation process used for the rest of Cleveland's littering rules, not through the Animal Control division. The rule does not name deer, geese or other mammals; as written it reaches pigeons, starlings, sparrows and "other birds," so its practical target is the flocks of pigeons and starlings that concentrate around fed areas and draw rats.