Skokie, IL Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Section 18-11(b) bans ground feeding outright, requiring all feed to sit inside an approved container or feeder, and separately outlaws platform feeders, the open-placement type meant for ground-feeding species. Subsection (c) then caps the number of feeders allowed per residential or business/commercial lot: 4 hanging feeders, 2 suet feeders, 2 water dispensers, 1 platform hanging bird feeder, and no limit on hummingbird feeders. Subsection (d) limits the physical size of any feeder to a base area no larger than 400 square inches and requires feeders to be designed to minimize nuisance, including excessive spillage.

Subsection (e) requires every feeder to sit at least 5 feet inside the property line, keeping feed off neighboring yards and public rights-of-way. Subsection (f) bars letting unused feed, food waste or droppings accumulate to the point they turn foul, putrid, offensive in odor, or an attractant for nuisance species, rodents or insects. The ordinance's definitions section reaches beyond backyard birds, defining 'wild/feral animal and/or bird' to include the gray squirrel, ground squirrel, chipmunk, rat, mouse, rabbit, raccoon, opossum, skunk, pigeon, sparrow, mourning dove, starling and crow, so a resident dumping food scraps for raccoons or pigeons falls under the same feeder and placement limits as a backyard bird feeder. The section was last amended by Ordinance No. 23-04-C-4641 on April 3, 2023.