Medford, MA Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Section 6-108 sets two distinct prohibitions. First, no one may willfully or intentionally feed wild, feral or non-domestic animals on any public property or property to which the public has a right of access, expressly naming parks, cemeteries and public ways as covered locations. Second, and separately, no one may leave food or bait unattended for a cat, dog or other domesticated animal in a place where a wild or non-domesticated animal could be attracted by it, which reaches ordinary pet-feeding setups left outdoors on public land.

For purposes of the section, feral cats and dogs are themselves defined as "wild," so someone routinely feeding a feral colony without authorization falls under the same ban as someone feeding a raccoon or coyote. Sec. 6-109 carves out the one exception: the section does not apply to a person who has registered with the board of health as a feral cat caretaker, defined in the same section as anyone registered with the board of health as caring for feral cats. That registration route is spelled out in Sec.

6-110, which imposes its own trapping, sterilization and reporting duties on caretakers. Both sections were added by Ord. No. 728 in 2007 and sit in Chapter 6's rabies-control article.