Problem Solving

Is It Illegal to Feed Wild Rabbits?

In some cities, yes. Calgary, Vancouver's parks and Cannon Beach, Oregon all fine it. No state or provincial law we read bans it. In Denver the answer turns on which rabbit it is, because the code exempts the pet species that feral colonies come from.

Yes, in a handful of cities, and the strictest reach your backyard. Calgary treats food left out for rabbits as material "likely to attract pests," with fines from $200. Cannon Beach, Oregon bans feeding wild animals anywhere in town, up to $500. Vancouver bans it in parks and on beaches, at $500 a ticket. No state or provincial law we read makes feeding a rabbit illegal.

We read eight rules: five city bylaws and codes, two state rules and one provincial regulation. Most are in their own text. Calgary's come from the city's own summary, and Cannon Beach's from the city's notice as printed in the local paper. If the animal at your feeder is a squirrel instead, see is it illegal to feed squirrels. How to look up your own code is on neighbors and ordinances.

What a "wild rabbit" is in these rules#

Many "wild rabbits" in Western cities are not wild at all. They are feral rabbits: pets that escaped or were dumped, and their young, living free. Every pet rabbit belongs to one species, the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus. A group of them living and breeding together is a colony.

North America's native rabbits are different animals. Cottontails belong to the genus Sylvilagus. Jackrabbits are hares, genus Lepus. Calgary's guide gives the quick test: its white-tailed jackrabbits are large and turn from brown to white in winter. Domestic rabbits "come in a variety of colors," and their fur "does not change seasonally."

The colonies are real and costly. Vancouver's Park Board calls the Jericho Beach rabbits "an invasive species colony, originating from domestic pets that have either escaped or been intentionally released." In Canmore, Alberta, the Rocky Mountain Outlook reported in October 2020 that the town had paid a contractor to trap 1,662 rabbits since 2012. The bill was $482,517, or $290.32 a rabbit.

This matters for the law because each rule picks its own word. One says "pests," one says "wildlife," one says "wild animal." One names the pet species in order to leave it out. Whether a feral rabbit is "wild" depends on whose rule you read.

The rules we read#

For your own yard, read the "Your yard" column first.

Five of the eight reach feeding rabbits: Calgary's two bylaws, Vancouver, Cannon Beach, and Denver for cottontails. Three of them reach your yard. No state or provincial rule here bans it.

One yard walked through three rules#

Take a backyard with a tube feeder on a pole and a ring of spilled millet on the lawn below it. Suppose the owner also sets out carrot peels each evening for a few rabbits that come out at dusk. They are feral, mixed colors, plainly former pets. Now move the same yard to three cities.

In Calgary, the carrot peels are the clear problem. The city says "leaving food out which would attract pests," including "citizens feeding rabbits directly," breaks section 8(1)(b). Fines begin at $200. The millet is less clear. The bylaw's test is an accumulation of material "likely to attract pests," and it does not mention bird feeders. We found no ruling on spilled seed either way.

In Cannon Beach, the peels fail too. They are food placed "with the intent of attracting or feeding wild animals." The millet is a closer call. The ban needs intent, and spill is not put down on purpose. But the songbird exception only covers food "contained in a feeder which is reasonably designed and placed in a manner to avoid access by wild animals." Seed on the grass is outside the feeder, and the city's notice does not say how spill is treated. On conviction, the fine can reach $500.

In Denver, it turns on the rabbits. Section 8-72's list of "wild or dangerous" animals leaves out "Domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)." Read on its face, carrots for a feral domestic rabbit are outside the ban. Swap in a cottontail, a native species the list does not leave out, and the same peels are covered. A first ticket is then $200.

The fix is the same in all three: stop the peels, catch the spill and sweep. Then no rule above has anything to cite.

Why the answers online disagree#

One answer says rabbits are not wildlife, so feeding them is fine. The other says feeding wild animals is illegal, full stop. Each is right somewhere and wrong as a rule.

"Not wildlife" is true in some laws. Calgary says "domestic rabbits are not protected by any of Alberta's wildlife laws." Denver's code names the pet species in order to leave it out. But that does not make feeding legal. Calgary skips the wildlife question entirely. Its bylaw is about pests, so a rabbit's status does not matter there. Vancouver's word, "wildlife," covers non-native animals on purpose, and the Park Board applies it to the Jericho rabbits.

"Illegal everywhere" comes from headlines. Cannon Beach's 2019 ban and Vancouver's 2021 tickets were widely reported. Neither is a state or provincial law. Outside the cities that wrote one, we found no rule that bans feeding a rabbit at all.

So the useful question is not "is a rabbit wildlife?" It is "what word does my city's rule use, and where does it apply?"

Calgary: a pest rule, not a wildlife rule#

Calgary's rabbit guide, from April 2022, quotes two bylaws. Section 8(1) of the Community Standards Bylaw says no owner or occupier "shall allow on the Premises, the accumulation of" certain things. Item (a) is "any material that creates unpleasant odors." Item (b) is "any material likely to attract pests."

The city then spells it out. "Leaving food out which would attract pests (this would include citizens feeding rabbits directly) contravenes this Bylaw. Fines for violations begin at $200.00."

In parks, section 17(e) of the Parks and Pathways Bylaw says no person shall "pester, feed or otherwise interfere with any animal in a Park." Fines there also begin at $200.

The guide's first tip is "Do not feed rabbits." Feeding feral rabbits, it says, "creates a dependency on this food source." It also notes that more feral rabbits may mean more great horned owls, bobcats or coyotes. For the coyote side, see is it illegal to feed coyotes. The rest of Canada's feeder rules are on are bird feeders illegal in Canada.

Vancouver: parks and beaches, $500#

On October 4, 2021, the Vancouver Park Board added section 9A to its Parks Control By-law. A person must not "feed or attempt to feed wildlife in any park." Nor may they leave an attractant "in any park in a manner that attracts or could attract wildlife." An attractant includes "food or food waste."

The definition is what catches the rabbits. Wildlife means "all amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, both native and not native to the Province." Only "any domesticated animal under the control of a human" is left out. A feral rabbit is under no one's control.

The same day, the board set the tickets. Feeding wildlife is $500, and leaving an attractant is $500. Park rangers and police can both write them.

The board's March 27, 2024 notice named the rabbits directly. "Wildlife feeding is prohibited across all Vancouver parks and beaches, and can incur a fine of up to $500." It added that food left out for rabbits "attracts mice and rats," and asked the public to report feeding to 311. The North Shore News carried the same $500 warning before Easter 2022.

The rule stops at the park edge. It does not reach a private yard. Because "wildlife" includes birds, it also covers feeding ducks and pigeons in the parks.

Cannon Beach: the rabbits behind the ban#

Cannon Beach is the clearest case of rabbits driving a law. OPB reported on October 2, 2019 that the city council had passed the ordinance "Tuesday night." Residents "have complained in recent years of rabbits damaging plants and gardens." Per the Daily Astorian, as OPB cited it, wild animals "include birds, raccoons, rabbits and others."

The city's notice, printed by the Tillamook Headlight Herald in February 2020, gives the code's wording. Under Chapter 6.10, attracting or feeding wild animals in city limits "is declared to be a nuisance and is prohibited at all times." That includes "placing or knowingly allowing food or other attractants to be placed" on your property or public property "with the intent of attracting or feeding wild animals."

Two exceptions follow. Songbird feeding is allowed if the food is "contained in a feeder which is reasonably designed and placed in a manner to avoid access by wild animals." Feeding is also allowed with a valid permit from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A violation "shall constitute a misdemeanor," with a fine "of no more than $500" on conviction. City leaders told OPB they would issue warnings for the first year and fine people after that. The raccoon version of this rule is on is it illegal to feed raccoons.

Denver: a ban with a rabbit-shaped gap#

Denver's council rewrote its animal chapter in 2018, passing it on July 16. Section 8-72 makes it unlawful "to own, possess, keep, maintain, feed, harbor, transport or sell within the city any living wild or dangerous animal." Subsection (d) adds that it "shall not be construed to prohibit a person from providing food and water for birds."

The trouble is the definition. "Wild or dangerous animal" includes "all species of nonhuman mammals," with a list of exceptions. Domestic cats and dogs are on it, and so are hamsters and guinea pigs. Item (i) is "Domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)."

That exception names a species, not an owner. Every feral colony rabbit belongs to that species. So on the text alone, feeding a feral domestic rabbit is not feeding a "wild or dangerous animal." A cottontail is a different species and is covered. We found no Denver ruling on a feral rabbit either way.

Denver Animal Protection told Denver7 in April 2021 what a ticket would cost. A first administrative citation "would carry a fine of $200." A second "would carry a fine of $500," and a third or later one "carries a fine of $700." A court summons instead could mean "up to $999 and up to 300 days in jail."

Denver's own animal-law flyer adds a limit to the bird exemption: birds are exempt "except where feeding may entice wildlife." In that case, a neighbor said squirrels were drawn to bird feeders next door. Officers had shown the feeder's owner in 2019 how to set them up so they "don't attract other wildlife." In parks, the city's wildlife guide says "it is illegal to feed geese and other wildlife on Denver Park properties."

State and provincial law#

Colorado. "Under Colorado law, feeding big game animals is illegal," Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in April 2024. "Many cities have also implemented additional feeding restrictions for squirrels and rabbits." The rule itself, regulation #021, covers big game in part A and coyotes and foxes in part C. Part B bans salt or minerals put out as a lure for any wildlife. It names no rabbit. Part D, which can require bird feeders secured or removed after a state notice, is on bear feeder laws.

Oregon. ORS 496.731 lets an officer order food removed within two days. It applies only to "potentially habituated wildlife," defined as "bear, cougar, coyote and wolf." Rabbits are a city matter there, as in Cannon Beach.

British Columbia. The province lists Oryctolagus cuniculus, the European rabbit, in Schedule C of its Designation and Exemption Regulation. Schedule C animals can be trapped or killed without a licence, but not on private land without the owner's permission or in a way the law forbids. The same regulation removes European rabbits from the exemption that lets people trap and release wildlife nearby. Nothing in it bans feeding. Moving trapped animals more generally is on is it legal to trap a squirrel and move it.

Alberta. We did not read the Alberta Wildlife Act. Calgary's guide says "domestic rabbits are not protected by any of Alberta's wildlife laws," and enforces through its pest bylaw instead.

Keeping a bird feeder out of these rules#

No rule we read bans a bird feeder because rabbits live nearby. Cannon Beach and Denver protect feeding birds in their text. What they all go after is food an animal on the ground can reach. At a hanging feeder, that is the seed that falls.

• Catch the spill with a tray, and empty it. Types are in ground feeders and catch trays. This is the "designed and placed" test in Cannon Beach.
• Use seed that leaves less behind, such as sunflower hearts or no-mess blends. Scattering white millet or cracked corn on the lawn is the setup these rules reach.
• Skip a low platform feeder where rabbits roam. Raise feeders as in how high to hang a bird feeder.
• Sweep and store. Rake up hulls as in seed mess, hulls and dead grass, and keep bags sealed as in storing bird seed. Spilled seed also feeds mice and rats, the pest Vancouver warned about.
• Follow Calgary's yard tips: secured garbage bins, tidy landscaping, and fencing to keep rabbits out.

If a neighbor has already complained, fix the ground first and tell them what you changed. See what to change first when someone complains. The same steps keep you clear of rat rules too, as on can you be fined if your bird feeder attracts rats.

Where this page stops applying#

• Other cities. Many towns have a wildlife feeding or nuisance rule we did not read. Search your code for "feed," "wild animal" and "attract."
• Calgary and Cannon Beach wording. We read Calgary's two sections as the city quotes them, and Cannon Beach's as the city's notice states them. We did not read either full code.
• Denver after 2018. We read section 8-72 as passed in 2018. Denver Animal Protection still cited it in 2021, but later amendments were not checked. The domestic rabbit gap is a reading of the text, not a court ruling.
• Releasing a rabbit. Dumping a pet rabbit is a separate question from feeding one, and other laws may cover it. We did not read them.
• Leases and HOAs. A pest or wildlife clause can ban what no city does. See HOA covenants and rental agreements.

This is a reading of city codes, a state rule and a provincial regulation, not legal advice.