Maricopa, AZ Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Two layers govern feeding animals in the City of Maricopa. First, for stray and feral domestic animals, the city's animal-control provisions prohibit the feeding, maintaining, or harboring of stray and/or feral animals on public or private property without the permission of the property owner; a person who does so is in violation and is made responsible for the humane removal of such animals. This is the rule most likely to affect residents who feed neighborhood stray cats or dogs. Second, feeding of true wildlife (game animals) is principally a matter of Arizona state law administered by the Arizona Game and Fish Department under A.R.S. Title 17, rather than a separate published City of Maricopa ordinance; Arizona regulates feeding and baiting of certain wildlife, and intentionally feeding wildlife can attract predators and create public-safety and nuisance issues in a desert-edge community like Maricopa. The city's published code does not appear to set out a standalone civil penalty for backyard bird or wildlife feeding, so residents should treat the stray/feral prohibition as the clear local rule and verify wildlife-feeding limits with Arizona Game and Fish. As elsewhere, nuisance provisions can apply where feeding draws pests or aggressive animals.