To protect the health, safety, and property of the community, residents should not intentionally place or leave food outdoors for wildlife, stray animals, feral animals, or other animals that do not belong to their household.
Although feeding animals may be well-intentioned, doing so can create conditions that affect neighboring homes and the community as a whole. Food left outdoors can attract rodents, raccoons, foxes, deer, insects, and other wildlife and may encourage animals to repeatedly return to residential areas in search of food.
Regular feeding can result in increased animal activity, pest infestations, property and landscaping damage, scattered food and trash, animal waste, and unwanted encounters between wildlife, residents, children, and pets. Concentrating animals around an artificial food source may also create sanitation concerns and can cause wildlife to lose its natural fear of people.
A Community-Wide Impact
The effects of outdoor feeding are not limited to the property where the food is placed. Animals attracted to a single residence routinely travel through neighboring yards, streets, parking areas, and common property. As a result, one household’s feeding activity can create pest, nuisance, sanitation, and safety concerns for many other residents.
Residents should therefore avoid
• Placing food outside specifically for wildlife, stray, or feral animals; • Leaving pet food or food scraps outdoors; • Throwing food into yards, wooded areas, streets, or common areas for animals; • Maintaining feeding stations that attract animals to residential property; and • Allowing food waste, birdseed, or other edible material to accumulate in a manner that attracts rodents or other wildlife.
Trash and food waste should be properly secured, and residents are encouraged to promptly clean up spilled food, birdseed, or other material that may attract animals.
Nuisance Prevention and Community Rules
Activities that attract pests or wildlife can become a community nuisance when they interfere with another resident’s use and enjoyment of their property, create unsanitary conditions, damage Association property, or create recurring safety or pest-control concerns.
The Association may address outdoor animal feeding when the resulting conditions violate applicable governing documents, community rules, or other restrictions relating to nuisances, sanitation, common-area use, property maintenance, or conduct that adversely affects neighboring properties.
The purpose of this policy is not to discourage residents from caring about animals. It is to prevent individual actions from creating broader problems for neighboring homeowners and Association property.
Please help keep our community clean, safe, and free from preventable wildlife and pest problems by allowing wild animals to obtain food naturally rather than encouraging them to congregate in residential areas.