Scottsdale, AZ Animal Ordinances: Chickens & Livestock (2026)

Section 4-17 of the Scottsdale Code of Ordinances, adopted under Code 1972 § 4-203 and amended by Ordinance No. 2479 on August 31, 1992, sits in Article II, Keeping of Domestic Animals, enacted because the control of animal-keeping, as regards location and sanitary requirements, is related to public health, safety and welfare under § 4-16. Subsection (a) applies broadly to cattle, horses, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds, fowl and any other animal, requiring that the pens, stalls, stables, yards, shelters and cages where they are kept be maintained free of flies, insects, vermin, rodent harborage, odors, ponded water and manure or garbage accumulation that becomes a public health nuisance.

Subsection (b) singles out pigs: no pigsty or piggery may be built on marshy ground or land subject to overflow, within 200 feet of a stream, canal or other water supply, or within 300 feet of an inhabited house or occupied building on adjoining property. Section 4-18 layers on sanitary duties: manure and droppings must be removed from pens, stables, yards and cages at least twice weekly, stored in insect-tight containers approved by the health officer, and watering troughs must drain properly to prevent fly and mosquito breeding.

Section 4-19 gives the county health officer authority to enter public and private property to investigate an animal nuisance and to require the owner to abate it at the owner's own expense. Because Chapter 4 sets no specific fine for § 4-17, the citywide default penalty in § 1-8 controls any violation.