Old Bridge, NJ Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Article IV of Chapter 432, adopted August 16, 2004 by Ordinance No. 25-04, states its purpose as protecting public health, safety and welfare by prohibiting the feeding of unconfined wildlife on Township property. Section 432-19 defines 'feed' as any act to give, place, expose, deposit, distribute or scatter edible material with the intention of feeding, attracting or enticing wildlife, though it excludes bait used in the legal taking of fish or game, and defines 'wildlife' as all animals that are neither human nor domesticated. Section 432-20 then prohibits feeding wildlife in any public park or on any other property the Township owns or operates, but excludes confined wildlife, such as animals kept in zoos, parks or rehabilitation centers, or unconfined wildlife encountered at environmental education centers.

Enforcement runs through the Old Bridge Township Police Department under § 432-21, and an officer who finds a violation is directed to order the person to stop feeding immediately, a distinct first step before any penalty is pursued. Because the article sits in the stormwater-quality chapter rather than the animal-control chapter, it targets the public-property feeding that draws geese, deer and other wildlife into parks and drainage areas, separate from the Township's dog, cat and licensing rules found elsewhere in the Code.