Union County, NJ Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Chapter 131, Article VIII, adopted 12/18/2024 by Ord. 852-2024, states the ordinance exists to prohibit the feeding of unconfined wildlife in any public park or on any other property owned or operated by the County of Union, § 131-36. The prohibited-activities section, § 131-38, is direct: no person shall feed, in any public park or on any other property owned or operated by the County of Union, any wildlife. The code defines feed broadly as distributing or scattering any edible material with the intention of feeding or attracting wildlife, but carves out legal baiting used in taking fish or game, § 131-37(A).

Wildlife itself is defined as any undomesticated animal, including all organisms that live wild in an area, § 131-37(C), so the ban covers deer, geese, ducks, and other unconfined species on county land. Two exemptions apply: unconfined wildlife at environmental education centers, and feral cats fed as part of an approved Trap-Neuter-Release program, § 131-39. The County of Union itself enforces the ordinance, and any violator is first ordered to cease the feeding immediately, § 131-40.