Southfield, MI Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Southfield City Code § 9.90, adopted by Ord. No. 1748 in March 2022, bans deer feeding across the City of Southfield. The council's findings explain why: recreational feeding concentrates deer in ways that damage gardens and landscaping, and rising deer populations increase car-deer crashes on city streets. The operative prohibition sweeps broadly: no person may place or permit to be placed on the ground, or less than five feet above the ground surface, any grain, fodder, salt licks, fruit, vegetables, nuts, hay or other edible materials that may reasonably be expected to result in deer feeding, unless the material is screened or protected so deer cannot get to it.

Living fruit trees and other live, growing vegetation are expressly carved out of the ban; a homeowner is not violating the section just by keeping a fruit tree or garden. Four narrower exceptions also apply: veterinarians, city or county animal control officers, parks maintenance staff, and state or federal game officials acting in their duties; people feeding domestic animals or wild birds through devices that keep other animals out; straw or hay used for erosion control, mulching or gardening; and pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks, wreaths, garland and similar decorative plant material displayed between September 1 and December 31.

Before any complaint or citation is issued, the city must first give the violator a written warning describing the penalties available under § 9.88, the Chapter 113 general penalty section, which classifies unexpressed violations as municipal civil infractions. Only a continued violation after that warning exposes a resident to citation.