Amador County, CA Animal Ordinances: Animal Hoarding (2026)

Amador County addresses the conditions that underlie animal hoarding through several tools rather than a single hoarding ordinance. The Animal Control Ordinance (Title 8) requires that the owner of any animal 'provide proper and adequate food, water, shelter, care, and attention for such animal' (Section 8.08.040). It also limits how many dogs a person can keep without oversight: five to nine dogs is a licensed, inspected 'noncommercial kennel' (Sections 8.04.140 and 8.32.010), and larger numbers are a 'commercial kennel' (8.04.130), so accumulating dogs beyond those thresholds without a license is itself a violation. General violations of Title 8 are misdemeanors punishable by up to a $500 fine and/or six months in jail (Section 8.12.080), and animal control officers may take up and impound animals kept in violation. For serious neglect, the controlling law is statewide: California Penal Code Section 597 makes it a crime to deprive an animal of necessary food, water, or shelter or to subject it to needless suffering, which can be charged as a misdemeanor or felony; overcrowding that compromises animals' health and safety is the hallmark of hoarding cases. Penal Code Section 597.1 addresses failure to care for animals and authorizes officers and veterinarians to seize neglected animals, hold hearings, and recover care costs. Amador County Animal Control works with these state provisions when intervening in hoarding situations.