St. Charles County, MO Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Section 250.100(B)(6) of the St. Charles County Code makes it unlawful for any person to feed or bait migratory waterfowl or other wildlife in a county park. The provision does not stop at ducks and geese. It spells out that the wildlife covered includes all mammals and birds, and it names deer and raccoons specifically before adding other species of wildlife. A handful of corn left for park deer and a bag of bread thrown to lake geese fall under the same sentence.

The section also reaches past deliberate feeding. It is equally a violation to create any condition, or to allow any condition to exist, that results in a congregation or congestion of migratory waterfowl or other wildlife. That is the passive half of the rule, and it is the half most people miss: leaving food out, or leaving a situation in place that keeps pulling animals in, counts even when nobody is standing there tossing anything.

The code then describes what makes such a gathering a violation. It is a condition that threatens the health, safety or welfare of the public, or of the migratory waterfowl or other wildlife themselves, or one that draws birds or wildlife to an area for any purpose including hunting or poaching. That last clause is why the section is written as a baiting rule as well as a feeding rule. Luring animals to a spot on county park land so they can be taken is squarely prohibited by the same sentence that covers a well-meant handout.

Two carve-outs are built in. Songbirds at feeding stations are excluded from the wildlife this rule covers, so an established station in a park is not the target. Non-game fish may be fed only at the fish-feeding stations the county designates. The rule governs conduct in St. Charles County parks and their waterways under Chapter 250, not feeding on private property elsewhere in the county.