San Antonio, TX Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Sec. 22-58, found in the article of Chapter 22 governing Brackenridge and Koehler Parks, makes it unlawful for anyone except those authorized to do so by the San Antonio Zoological Society to feed any animal or fowl belonging to the zoo any food other than what can be bought from the vending machines located in the zoological area. The rule targets the zoo's own collection animals, not general urban wildlife such as deer, geese, ducks or feral cats found elsewhere in the park system; it is written narrowly to the zoological area inside Brackenridge Park, home to the San Antonio Zoo, and the adjoining Koehler Park.

A companion provision in the same article, Sec. 22-57, separately makes it unlawful to annoy any animal or fowl belonging to the city situated in Brackenridge Park, Koehler Park or the zoological area contiguous thereto, so harassing or feeding an animal outside the approved vending-machine food can trigger either or both sections depending on the conduct. The two provisions trace back to the 1950 and 1959 city codes and were last amended by ordinance in 1967, reflecting how long San Antonio has restricted public interaction with the zoo's animals to protect their diets and health.

Because the ban is tied to the zoo's own vending machines and to authorization from the Zoological Society, a visitor who wants to feed an animal something else, even something benign like park-purchased popcorn, needs the Society's advance sign-off rather than relying on general park rules elsewhere in Chapter 22.