Memo - Amendment to the Non-Domesticated Animal OrdinanceMemorandum
To:
City Council
From:
Jim Genellie
Date:
November 15, 2011
Subiect:
Amendment to the Non -Domesticated Animal Ordinance.
The City has received a number of complaints regarding residents feeding wild
animals. Unfortunately, feeding wild animals can have adverse impacts on the
surrounding neighborhood and even the animals themselves. There are a number
of problems associated with feeding wild animals including:
Wild animals who are used to being fed by humans commonly lose their fear of
people. Animals who are unafraid of people will approach them for food, and are
sometimes mistaken as rabid, aggressive or mean.
The food humans usually feed to wild animals is not nutritionally complete, and it
can cause serious health problems for the animals, especially when they are young
and still developing.
A constant, human -provided food source may attract many more wild animals to
the area than would normally be found there. This means that if one animal in the
group has an illness or disease, it can spread throughout the group.
Reproduction rates may also be affected when an artificial food source is readily
available. In the wild, the number of animals being born is often directly related to
the amount of natural food available.
Many people do not think about the neighborhood impact when they start feeding
wildlife. Wild animals do not usually discriminate between one person and another,
and will often start pestering neighbors. The animals may also cause damage to
homes and property because they expect to be fed and have lost their fear of
people.
Staff is recommending that the Council consider the following amendment to the
City's non -domesticated animal ordinance:
FEEDING OF WILD ANIMALS PROHIBITED.
(a) Prohibition No person shall feed or allow the feeding of wild animals as defined in Section 940
of this City Code such as but not limited to raccoons deer, turkeys ducks and geese within any area of the
City of Hopkins For the purpose of this Section feeding shall mean provision of non -birdseed mixtures,
grain fruit vegetables hay, mineral salt or other edible material either on the ground or at a height of less
than five (5) feet above the ground Living food sources such as fruit trees and other live vegetation, shall
not be considered as prohibited feeding.
(b) Exceptions. This prohibition shall not apply to veterinarians City, county, state or federal
officials who in the course of their duties have wild animals in their custody or under their management.
This amendment would not affect bird feeders.
If this ordinance is adopted, the City would enforce it on a complaint basis. The first
steps would, of course, be to encourage voluntary compliance. Staff would provide
information about the downsides of feeding wild animals. Continued violation of the
ordinance could result in an administrative fine.