Pasadena, CA Animal Ordinances: Beekeeping (2026)

110 groups Africanized and European honey bees with wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, black widow spiders, brown recluse spiders and scorpions as pests that pose a public health danger, and subsection A lets the health officer require cleaning and insecticide application 'as often as necessary' to prevent them from harboring, including prescribing the type, manner and frequency of treatment. Subsection B then makes it unlawful for any property owner or tenant to maintain or permit a beehive, nest or swarm that may pose that danger, a flat rule that applies citywide regardless of zoning.

Subsection C carves out the only exception: a 'professional beekeeper,' defined as someone who holds a current registration as a beekeeper with the Los Angeles County department of agricultural commissioner, is not restricted by this prohibition, but only if the city's separate zoning code doesn't independently prohibit the activity on that property. 28, while a registered commercial or hobbyist beekeeper still has to check zoning rules for the property before setting up hives, since the exemption from the health and safety ban doesn't override a separate zoning restriction.