Warren, MI Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

City Code Sec. 7-81(a) makes it unlawful for any person to feed any wild animal anywhere in the city, defining wild animals broadly to include raccoons, skunks, rodents, rabbits, crows, pigeons, doves, seagulls, mice, fowl, waterfowl, gophers, groundhogs, moles, opossums, squirrels, and every other wild animal. Subsection (b) separately prohibits all ground feeding outright, and creates a presumption that scattering food or food scraps on the ground is prima facie evidence the person intended it as ground feeding; the same subsection carves out community cat feeding done under the city's section 7-105 trap-neuter-return colony program.

Subsection (c) allows feeding wild birds or squirrels only from containers and supports that exclude other rodents and wild animals and that are elevated at least 48 inches above ground level, and it caps every household at two birdfeeders regardless of lot size. Because the ban covers geese, pigeons, and other nuisance wildlife by name and applies citywide with no permit process, it functions as a broad, near-total prohibition rather than a light nuisance rule. The section was enacted under Ord. No. 80-834, effective June 24, 2025.