Minnehaha County has NO local ordinance prohibiting the feeding of wildlife (deer, turkeys, raccoons, songbirds, waterfowl). The 2017 Animal Control Ordinance regulates only owned/domestic animals; it does not address wildlife. Wildlife is the property of the State of South Dakota and is regulated by the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) under SDCL Title 41. GFP recommends against feeding deer due to chronic wasting disease (CWD) concerns but has not enacted a statewide deer-feeding ban applicable to private landowners outside designated CWD surveillance areas.
What is regulated: SDCL § 41-1-1 declares wildlife to be 'the property of the state.' Hunting, baiting on public land, and supplemental feeding on state game-production areas are governed by GFP administrative rules in ARSD Article 41. Take or possession of game animals without a license is a misdemeanor under SDCL Chapter 41-8. What is NOT regulated: backyard bird feeders, songbird feeding, and incidental feeding of deer or turkeys on private agricultural land in Minnehaha County. The county does not enforce a bear-attractant rule (black bears are uncommon in this corner of SD). Nuisance overlay: persistent wildlife feeding that draws so many deer or raccoons that neighbors are harmed could be abated as a public nuisance under SDCL § 21-10-1 and the county's Declaration and Abatement of Public Nuisances ordinance, but the county has no per-incident wildlife-feeding citation. Inside Sioux Falls, city ordinance (Sioux Falls Code § 90.085) prohibits deer feeding within the city; the county rule does not.
No county-level penalty for wildlife feeding in unincorporated Minnehaha County. State-level violations (hunting over bait on public land, feeding within a CWD management area when designated, unlicensed wildlife rehabilitation) are Class 2 misdemeanors under SDCL Chapter 41-8. Nuisance abatement under county Public Nuisance ordinance and SDCL § 21-10-9 is the only realistic enforcement path for chronic backyard feeding that creates a neighborhood problem.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Minnehaha County, SD
Minnehaha County does not regulate residential artificial turf. The County Zoning Ordinance under SDCL Chapter 11-2 controls lot-coverage and impervious-surf...
Minnehaha County, SD
Minnehaha County imposes no ordinance restricting native or prairie landscaping on residential lots. The only substantive overlay is the SDCL Chapter 38-22 d...
Minnehaha County, SD
Minnehaha County has no ordinance prohibiting residential rainwater collection. South Dakota's SDCL 46-1-6 domestic-use exemption covers household rain barre...
Minnehaha County, SD
SDCL Chapter 38-22 makes every Minnehaha County landowner responsible for controlling state-listed noxious weeds (Canada thistle, leafy spurge, perennial sow...
Minnehaha County, SD
Minnehaha County's Parks Ordinance ('Control, Regulation and Use of Parks') governs the three county-owned parks: Bucher Prairie Park, Perry Nature Area, and...
Minnehaha County, SD
Commercial drone work (aerial photography for real estate, agricultural-field scouting, infrastructure inspection, surveying, mapping, wedding videography, e...
See how Minnehaha County's wildlife feeding rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.