Kent County's Animal Control Ordinance does not address feeding wild animals. Deer and elk baiting and feeding are regulated statewide by the Michigan DNR, which bans deer feeding across most of the Lower Peninsula for disease control.
The Kent County Animal Control Ordinance covers domesticated animals and does not set a wildlife-feeding rule, so no county ordinance prohibits feeding songbirds or other wildlife. Statewide, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources regulates the baiting and feeding of deer and elk under authority of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA, MCL 324.40111). To limit the spread of chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis, the DNR bans deer feeding and baiting throughout the Lower Peninsula, which includes Kent County. Your city or township may separately restrict feeding that creates a nuisance or attracts pests.
Illegal deer baiting or feeding is enforced by the Michigan DNR under state law, with fines and possible license sanctions. Nuisance-feeding penalties, if any, are set by your municipality.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Kent County, MI
Backyard composting is allowed and encouraged in Kent County. Michigan law bans yard clippings from landfills, and the Kent County Department of Public Works...
Kent County, MI
Kent County has no artificial-turf ordinance. Whether synthetic grass is allowed in a front yard is a city or township zoning and property-maintenance questi...
Kent County, MI
Kent County has no native-plant ordinance. Whether a naturalized or prairie-style yard is allowed is set by your city or township, and must be reconciled wit...
Kent County, MI
Collecting rainwater is legal in Michigan and Kent County places no restriction on it. Rain barrels and cisterns for lawn and garden use are allowed; only cr...
Kent County, MI
Kent County sets no lawn-watering schedule. Michigan is not a drought-restricted state, so there is no county odd/even or day-of-week watering rule. Any limi...
Kent County, MI
Under Michigan's Noxious Weed Act, a landowner must destroy noxious weeds before they go to seed. Enforcement runs through a local noxious-weed commissioner ...
See how Kent County's wildlife feeding rules stack up against other locations.
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