RELATES TO:

KRS 150.015

STATUTORY AUTHORITY:

150.025

NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY:

KRS 150.015 requires the department to protect and conserve the wildlife of this Commonwealth. KRS 150.025(l)(h) authorizes the department to promulgate administrative regulations to carry out the provisions of KRS Chapter 150. This administrative regulation establishes restrictions on the feeding of wildlife that will serve to protect wildlife from disease and toxic substances that may cause harm to the wildlife population if left unregulated. EO 2008-516, effective June 16, 2008, reorganizes and renames the Commerce Cabinet as the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet.

1. Section 1. Definitions.

   1. (1) "Captivity" means confinement by fence or other structure or restraint intended to prevent escape.
   2. (2) "Curtilage of the home" means the area encompassing the grounds immediately surrounding any home or group of homes used in the daily activities of domestic life, and may or may not be enclosed by a fence or other barrier, and includes areas occupied by captive cervids as established inpursuant to 301 KAR 2:083 and wildlife held in captivity for rehabilitation purposes as established inpursuant to 301 KAR 2:075 or held in captivity as established inpursuant to 301 KAR 2:081 and 2:082.
   3. (3) "Feeding" means willingly, wantonly, or knowingly depositing, distributing, or scattering of shelled, shucked, or unshucked corn, millet, milo, safflower seed, sunflower seed, thistle, wheat, or other grain, or any manufactured feed to be consumed by wildlife, but shall not include the establishment and maintenance of plantings for wildlife, foods found scattered solely as the result of normal agricultural planting or harvesting practices, foods available to wildlife through normal agricultural practices of livestock feeding if the areas are occupied by livestock actively consuming the feed on a daily basis, or standing farm crops under normal agricultural practices.

2. Section 2. Recreational Feeding of Wildlife.

   1. (1) Wildlife shall not be fed from March 1 through May 31 except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section.

   2. (2) Wildlife may only be fed year round:

      1. (a) Inin public areas not open to legal hunting or trapping, unless otherwise prohibited by statute,an administrative regulation, or municipal ordinance;.
      2. (b) Within(2) Wildlife may be fed year round within the curtilage of the home; and
      3. (c) In.
   3. (3) Wildlife shall not be fed from March 1 through May 31 except as provided in subsections (1) and (2) of this section.

   4. (4) The prohibition established in subsection (3) of this section shall not apply to the feeding of:

      1. (a) Fish; or
      2. (b) Wildlife in a zoo or other facility that lawfully keeps or exhibits wildlife for rehabilitation, rescue, or public viewing.
   5. (3) Fish may be fed year round.

3. Section 3. Chronic Wasting Disease. In a department-designated Chronic Wasting Disease Surveillance Zone or Management Zone county, specified on the department's Web site at fw.ky.gov, persons shall not bait or feed using grain, salt, mineral, or other ingested attractants, except that the following shall be exempted:

   1. (1) Normal agricultural practices;
   2. (2) Wildlife food plots or plantings;
   3. (3) Bird feeders within the curtilage of the home; and
   4. (4) Furbearer trapping, except that trappers shall not use grain, salt, or mineral.

History

(33 Ky.R. 1215; Am. 1523; eff. 12-7-2006; 34 Ky.R. 2220; eff. 6-6-2008; 35 Ky.R. 999; eff. 1-5-2009; 48 Ky.R. 133; 1730; eff. 3-1-2022.)

CONTACT PERSON: Beth Frazee, Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, Arnold L. Mitchell Building, #1 Sportsman's Lane, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, phone (502) 564-3400, fax (502) 564-0506, email fwpubliccomments@ky.gov.