Highlands County, FL Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

316(A) makes it unlawful to keep or maintain any hoofed animals, fowl or livestock, regardless of number, on a lot in unincorporated Highlands County unless that lot is zoned for agricultural purposes, subject to the exceptions the section itself carves out. 201), the default is prohibition. The code allows one narrow exception outside agricultural zoning: a single pure-bred pot-bellied pig may be kept in a single-family dwelling on a lot zoned EU, R-1A or R-1 with at least 10,000 square feet, provided the pig is kept primarily indoors, is leashed off the owner's property, has any waste cleaned and sanitized daily, generates no detectable odor at the lot line, and is spayed or neutered, disease-free and pedigree-verified on request.

A property owner on a smaller EU/R-1A/R-1 lot, or on land zoned R-2, R-3 or R-3 NC, can apply for a special exception to keep one pot-bellied pig under the same care conditions. Nothing in this exception opens the door to chickens, goats or other fowl and livestock outside agricultural zoning; those animals remain barred on residential or business-zoned land regardless of number. The Development Services Planning and Zoning Division and county code enforcement officers administer the rule, and violations are processed through the same special magistrate citation system that covers other Land Development Regulations breaches.