Franklin, TN Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Franklin's Title 10 (Animal Control) does not contain a wildlife-feeding section, but TWRA's statewide and CWD-specific rules apply in full inside the city. Under the TWRA Chronic Wasting Disease management framework (established under TCA 70-4-116 and the TWRA Proclamation on CWD), counties placed in the CWD Unit / Surveillance Zone face the strictest set of feeding and baiting restrictions: (1) it is unlawful to place, deposit, distribute, or scatter shelled, shucked, or unshucked corn, wheat, or other grain, salt, mineral blocks, or any manufactured food product to be consumed by deer, EXCEPT (a) inside enclosed buildings or stored in a way deer cannot access, (b) for crops and food plots planted in the normal course of agriculture, and (c) in residential bird feeders that are within the curtilage of the residence and at least four (4) feet off the ground; (2) the use of bait to take deer is prohibited; (3) urine-based deer attractants from outside Tennessee are prohibited; (4) carcass-importation rules restrict bringing whole deer carcasses from outside the state or from another CWD-positive county into the area. Williamson County has been included in TWRA's CWD-affected area since CWD spread northeast across Middle Tennessee in the 2022-2024 monitoring period; check the current TWRA CWD map at tn.gov/twra/hunting/cwd for the latest zone status. Outside of the CWD framework, TWRA rules and TCA 70-4-116 also generally prohibit feeding bears anywhere in the state because of the established public-safety risk and habituation problem. Inside Franklin, intentional feeding that attracts coyotes, raccoons, or other nuisance wildlife to a residential lot may additionally be cited under the general nuisance provisions of the Franklin Municipal Code.