Tinley Park, IL Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

16, GROUND FEEDING OF ANIMALS OR BIRDS, adopted by Ord. 2024-O-060 on November 19, 2024, prohibits performing or permitting ground feeding of animals or birds on any public or private property in the village. The section lists the wildlife it covers by name: cats, squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice, rabbits, raccoon, opossum, skunk, deer, ducks, geese, or any other wild animal, so the ban reaches everything from a backyard corn pile for deer to bread scattered for geese at a retention pond. The penalty is set directly in the section rather than through the general Chapter 10 fine: not less than $100 and not more than $750, and each day the feeding continues is a separate offense, so a standing feeding station racks up daily exposure rather than a single citation.

The section draws a clear line between prohibited ground feeding and lawful bird feeding: hanging a feeder above ground is allowed, but only if all the feed stays inside a container or feeder built for that purpose and the ground beneath and around it is kept free and clear of spilled bird food. A feeder that lets seed accumulate on the ground effectively converts a legal bird feeder into an illegal ground-feeding operation under the same section.