Durham County's Animal Control Ordinance has no provision banning the feeding of wildlife. Wild animals are regulated by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission; feeding that creates a nuisance or harbors wild animals can be reached through general nuisance authority, but no county animal rule targets feeding.
Chapter 4 governs domestic and kept animals, not the feeding of free-ranging wildlife, and contains no wildlife-feeding ban. Sec. 4-13 defines a 'wild animal' as any animal native or migratory to North Carolina; management of deer, waterfowl, and other wildlife falls to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission under state law, which restricts intentional feeding of certain species (for example bear and, in some zones, deer to limit disease). Locally, feeding that produces odor, vermin, or sanitation problems could be addressed through general county nuisance authority, and a person who effectively harbors an exotic or wild animal could implicate the exotic-animal permit rules (Sec. 4-302). Report wildlife conflicts to the NC Wildlife Helpline.
There is no county animal-ordinance penalty specific to wildlife feeding. Nuisance conditions from feeding may be abated under general nuisance provisions; unlawful feeding of regulated wildlife is enforced by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission under state law, not Durham County.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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Backyard composting is legal in Durham and the city offers a curbside food-waste program. Compost piles must be maintained so they do not harbor rodents or p...
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Durham has no ordinance banning artificial turf in residential yards. It counts toward impervious-surface and lot-coverage limits under the UDO, and cannot b...
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Durham lies in the Neuse River and Falls Lake watersheds, where state and UDO riparian buffer rules require a 50-foot protected buffer of native vegetation a...
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Rain barrels and cisterns are legal and encouraged in Durham; no county ordinance bans collecting rooftop rainwater. Durham has historically offered subsidiz...
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Durham enforces a year-round odd/even irrigation ordinance and can impose tighter water-shortage stages. As of June 2026 Durham is in Stage 2, which bans spr...
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Durham declares dense weeds, vines, briars and undergrowth a public nuisance when they harbor pests or sit near buildings. Overgrowth over 12 inches high mus...
See how Durham County's wildlife feeding rules stack up against other locations.
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