Elyria, OH Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

The only feeding provision in the park chapter is narrow. Section 955.06(c)(2), headed "Feeding," says no person in a park can give, offer or attempt to give to any animal or bird any tobacco, alcohol or other known noxious substances. The rule targets what is handed over, not the act of feeding itself. The words "known noxious substances" set the standard: the food has to be known to be harmful, and tobacco and alcohol are the two named examples.

The prohibition reaches an attempt. Offering the substance counts even if the animal or bird never eats it. It applies to any animal or bird, so it is not limited to wild species, and it covers a park as defined in § 955.01(c): a park, reservation, playground, beach, recreation center or other City-owned or City-used area devoted to active or passive recreation. The opening clause of § 955.06 lets public officers having charge of the park authorize an exception.

This section works alongside the other animal rules in § 955.06(c)(1), which bars harming, frightening, teasing or chasing any bird or animal, and § 955.05, which keeps dogs out of Ely Park without the approval of the Director of Parks and Recreation.

A separate sanitation rule touches the same ground from the other side. Section 959.03(b) prohibits throwing or depositing garbage, rubbish or waste matter in a public place or on a vacant lot, or where rats, mice, dogs, cats, birds, fowl or other living things can feed on it. That rule is aimed at waste, not at feeding birds. The code read for this page prints no separate ban on feeding deer, geese or strays.