§ 5.08. DISTURBING ANIMALS, BIRDS, FISH PROHIBITED, EXCEPTIONS.

Except as provided in Article 7, Chapter VIII (Police Code) of the San Francisco Municipal Code, it shall be unlawful for any person, including City and County of San Francisco, its officers, employees or agents, to hunt, chase, shoot, trap, discharge or throw missiles at, harass, disturb, taunt, endanger, capture, injure, or destroy any animal in any park, including the bison paddock, and the San Francisco Zoological Gardens, or to permit any animal in such person's custody or control to do so; provided, however, that any mole or any gopher, mouse, rat or other rodent which is determined by the Superintendent of Parks to be a nuisance may be destroyed by said Superintendent or a designated representative; and provided, further, that any animal other than a mole or a gopher, mouse, rat or other rodent which is determined by said Superintendent to be a nuisance or a hazard to persons using said areas or to be a hazard to plants or other horticulture, may, in a humane manner, be live trapped by said Superintendent and delivered to the Animal Control Officer for disposition pursuant to the provisions of Sections 41.7 through 41.9, inclusive, of Article 1, Chapter V (Health Code) of the San Francisco Municipal Code. The provisions of this Section are intended to prohibit fishing in any park other than fishing in Lake Merced pursuant to a license obtained pursuant to Article 8 of this Code or in any other area designated by Commission resolution as a fishing area.

The provisions of this Section shall not be applicable to the destruction of any animal in any park where such animal poses an immediate and serious threat to persons or property or is suffering excessively.

(Added by Ord. 603-81, App. 12/18/81; Ord. 38-10, File No. 091441, App. 2/18/2010)