Many municipalities also have feeding bans in place.
In Halifax, officials proposed an amendment to By-law A-700, also called the Respecting Animals and Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw, in March 2025.
The amendment was proposed to include stricter fines for people caught feeding deer, despite the fines already being steep, ranging from $200 to $5000.
While legal counsel advised that the current fine structure is sufficient and is unlikely to be raised, the proposal highlights the growing frustration local authorities have with members of the public feeding wild animals.
“We, as a department, always strive to work with education first,” Dr. Tricia B. Fleming, a Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources Human Wildlife Conflict Biologist tells The Weather Network.
“From a provincial perspective, we do not have a fining process. Feeding wildlife, although it often comes from a good place, has many negative impacts for wildlife and for people. Wildlife then will expect and depend on people for food, so then they’re not practicing their normal foraging practices or eating practices and that can lead to several things including more conflict between humans and wildlife.”