Bowling Green, KY Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Bowling Green's Code of Ordinances has no standalone rodent-control chapter; the closest rule sits in the Property Code's list of nuisance conditions at Sec. 27-5.05(n), "Hoarding of materials." It declares a nuisance out of "the accumulation of materials, trash, food, newspapers, magazines, old clothes and other items that create a serious fire or health hazard that can cause disease, contribute to vermin and/or insect infestations, affect the occupants of the building, neighbors, public safety personnel and the general public, or contribute to an unsanitary environment unfit for human habitation." A separate, narrower rodent-prevention design rule appears at Sec.

27-5.05(d), which requires compost bins to be "constructed to prevent the harborage of rodents and insects," but that standard applies only to compost bins, not to hoarded materials generally. Because both provisions sit under Sec. 27-5.05's "Certain Conditions Declared a Nuisance," enforcement runs the same way: the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services issues a Notice of Violation or citation, and Sec. 27-7.01's fine schedule sets non-structural property-maintenance fines of $100 for a first uncontested offense, $200 for a second and $400 for further offenses within five years, doubling to $200, $400 and $800 if contested before the Code Enforcement and Nuisance Board. A third citation on the same case lets the Board authorize a per-day fine of up to $100 for up to sixty days.