Greenwich, CT Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Section 4-115 of the Code of Ordinances, in Article 9 Animal Control, authorizes the Board of Health to designate public areas or buildings as restricted zones and to apply one or more of four listed conditions to each designation. The fourth condition addresses wildlife feeding directly: the Board can designate all or part of a public parkland as an area where feeding or depositing food for wild waterfowl or other birds is prohibited. The same tool the Board uses for leash zones, off-leash areas, and total dog restrictions is what it uses to stop residents from feeding geese, ducks, or other wild birds in town parks and along the waterfront.

Because the prohibition operates by designation, the specific parklands covered depend on which areas the Board has formally posted; Section 4-115(b) requires that any designation and its accompanying restriction become effective three days after publication of a legal notice in a newspaper of general circulation within the Town. There is no separate feeding-of-strays or deer-feeding provision elsewhere in the Code; the only municipal feeding restriction found in Chapter 4 is this parkland waterfowl and bird provision. Violations of Article 9, including feeding wild birds in a posted parkland, are penalized under Section 4-117 with a fine of not more than $100 for each violation, each day of continued feeding counted as a separate offense, and the Director of Health or the Animal Control Division of the Greenwich Police Department empowered to order the violation abated.