Tamarac, FL Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

Tamarac Code § 4-5, carried into the current code from the 1975 Code and last amended by Ord. No. 2001-19 in 2001, is a single flat prohibition: no person may feed, cause to be fed, or leave foodstuffs for consumption by any duck, wildlife, non-domesticated animal, or any animal not owned by that person, anywhere in the city. The ban is not limited to a particular species or location; it reaches backyard bird feeding of ducks and geese, leaving food out for raccoons or other wildlife, and putting out food for stray or feral cats and dogs that a resident does not own.

It sits in Article I of Chapter 4, alongside the city's leash law in § 4-2 and its pooper-scooper duty in § 4-4, all enforced together as part of the animal control scheme that Broward Sheriff's Office deputies and Broward County Animal Care carry out under the city's contract for animal control services, since Tamarac itself does not operate a shelter. Chapter 4 cross-references the city's nuisance provisions in Chapter 9 and the code enforcement board's jurisdiction under § 2-71 et seq., meaning a wildlife-feeding complaint can also be pursued as a nuisance or handled before the special magistrate rather than only through a police citation.

Because § 4-5 does not set its own fine, a violation is punished under the citywide general penalty in § 1-13: a fine of up to $500.00, imprisonment of up to 90 days, or both, with each day the feeding continues potentially charged as a separate offense.