Hawthorne does not use the word 'hoarding,' but its kennel/cat-facility thresholds (four or more dogs or cats), the 35-foot animal setback, and the Animal Nuisances and Impounding provisions in Title 6 together limit how many animals can be kept and allow abatement of overcrowded, unsanitary keeping. Overcrowding that harms animals is prosecutable statewide under California Penal Code §597 and §597.1.
Animal hoarding is addressed in Hawthorne through a combination of numeric thresholds, nuisance abatement, and state cruelty law rather than a dedicated 'hoarding' ordinance. The Hawthorne Municipal Code defines a kennel as four or more dogs and a cat facility as four or more cats over four months of age, so keeping animals beyond those numbers without proper registration is already a violation. The Animal Nuisances provisions in Title 6 allow the city to abate conditions that are unsanitary, odorous, or otherwise injurious to neighbors - the hallmarks of a hoarding situation - and the Impounding of Animals chapter (Chapter 6.04) authorizes Animal Control to impound animals kept unlawfully or in distress. The decisive law for genuine hoarding is statewide: California Penal Code §597 makes it a crime to maliciously maim, mutilate, or torture an animal or to deprive an animal of necessary sustenance, drink, shelter, or veterinary care. California allows a person to keep many animals, but when the number compromises the animals' health and safety through overcrowding, the keeper can be charged under §597 for neglect/cruelty. Penal Code §597.1 makes it a misdemeanor for an owner or keeper to fail to provide proper care and attention and authorizes peace officers and humane officers to seize neglected animals, with provisions for veterinary care and cost recovery. In Hawthorne, hoarding complaints are handled by Animal Control (with spcaLA, the contracted shelter, often receiving seized animals) and may be referred for criminal prosecution.
Keeping more animals than allowed (a kennel of four or more dogs or a cat facility of four or more cats over four months) without registration violates the Hawthorne Municipal Code and can lead to citation and impoundment under Chapter 6.04. Unsanitary or overcrowded conditions can be abated under the Animal Nuisances provisions. Where animals are neglected or suffering, the keeper faces misdemeanor or felony charges under California Penal Code §597, plus seizure and cost-recovery under §597.1; convicted defendants can be barred from owning animals and ordered to pay impound and care costs.
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