Surprise, AZ Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Sec. 10-84, adopted by Ordinance 2021-23 in November 2021, prohibits feeding animals on city-owned property, expressly naming all parks and recreation areas and facilities as covered ground. The section defines 'feed' broadly as knowingly providing any sustenance, including grain, seeds, greens, bread, breadcrumbs, fishmeal, waste food, food scraps, or other nutritive substances, including garbage not properly disposed of or contained, to animals within the physical boundaries of city-owned property. 'Animals' under this section means any wild animal, bird, livestock, or domesticated animal that is feral or at large, so it reaches everything from geese and pigeons to stray cats and coyotes, while leaving feeding on private property untouched.

The rule sits within the same animal-control chapter as the leash, licensing and vicious-animal provisions (chapter 10, article II, division 3), and works alongside the park-specific rule at Sec. 38-32 that separately restricts what people can bring into and do with animals inside city parks and dog parks. Because the definition captures improperly contained garbage as a form of feeding, it also reaches residents who leave food scraps or open trash accessible to wildlife on city land, not just people intentionally tossing bread to ducks.

The section carries no built-in fine schedule of its own; violations flow through the general civil/criminal citation and penalty provisions that apply across chapter 10.