St. Martin Parish, LA Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Article VI of Chapter 6 of the St. Martin Parish Code (Secs. 6-201 to 6-204) was adopted as Ord. No. 22-08-1373-OR on 8-2-2022 and names one species: the alligator. Sec. 6-201 defines to feed as to give, place, expose, deposit, distribute or scatter any edible material with the intention of feeding, attracting or enticing alligators. The definition turns on intent, and the article treats the word shall as mandatory.

Sec. 6-202 contains two separate prohibitions. First, no person shall purposely or knowingly feed, bait, or in any manner provide access to food to any alligator within St. Martin Parish, Louisiana. Second, no person shall purposely or knowingly leave or store any refuse, garbage, food product, pet food, or forage product or supplement in a manner that would constitute an attractant to any alligator. The second clause reaches a household that leaves pet food on a dock or a trash can open near a bayou, because the test is whether the material works as an attractant, not whether the person tossed it to an animal.

Sec. 6-203 lists three exceptions that apply notwithstanding any other ordinance of the St. Martin Parish Council. The ban does not reach alligators housed in a public park or lawfully confined in zoos, parks or rehabilitation centers. It does not reach feeding connected with luring or attracting alligators by a person engaged in commercial boat tours of natural habitat such as the Atchafalaya Basin and other natural or manmade waterways or bodies of water. And it does not reach feeding or baiting connected with the lawful recreational or commercial harvest of alligators, provided the person holds every federal, state and local license and permit required. Article VI addresses alligators only, so deer, geese and strays fall outside it.