Hidalgo County has no ordinance using the word 'hoarding,' but neglect of many animals is reachable through Texas cruelty law and the county's rabies and stray-animal duties. Serious neglect can be charged under Penal Code Sec. 42.09 and Sec. 42.092.
The county does not publish a hoarding-specific ordinance, but the conduct it describes, keeping so many animals that they suffer neglect, is addressed by Texas state law. The Texas Penal Code, Sec. 42.09 (livestock) and Sec. 42.092 (nonlivestock animals), makes it an offense to fail unreasonably to provide necessary food, water, care, or shelter or to keep an animal in cruel conditions, each animal generally a separate offense so a hoard produces stacked charges. County Animal Control Officers and the sheriff can respond, and a court may order animals seized and forfeited under Health and Safety Code Chapter 821, Subchapter B. Because the county is the local Rabies Control Authority, unvaccinated hoarded animals also raise rabies concerns under Chapter 826.
Serious or repeated neglect is charged under Penal Code Sec. 42.092, each animal generally a separate offense, penalties rising with harm and prior convictions. Cruelly treated animals may be seized and forfeited under Health and Safety Code Chapter 821.
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