Amador County, CA Animal Ordinances: Livestock (2026)

County Code Section 8.04.080 defines 'domestic animal' to include horses, donkeys, mules, burros, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, rabbits, llamas, camels, pot-belly pigs, ostriches, emus, rheas, cassowaries, and fowl kept as farm animals, and states that 'livestock' means all domestic animals except dogs and cats. Owners may not let livestock run at large or trespass (Section 8.08.030). Under Section 8.12 (administration), when an animal control officer finds livestock at large on a public highway or place, the officer turns the animals into the nearest appropriate enclosure (the owner's first), notifies the owner, and may impound at the owner's expense; allowing livestock at large on a public highway or place is a misdemeanor. Chapter 8.40 establishes 'open range': specified unfenced lands in the eastern county (bounded by the Calaveras, Alpine, and El Dorado county lines) are declared grazing areas under California Agriculture Code Section 17124. On those lands, owners of unfenced land are generally not entitled to damages from straying stock (but may charge reasonable pasture rent), and a livestock owner is liable when stock break through a 'lawful fence' (8.40.020). Anyone pasturing stock in the grazing area must file their brand and a contact with the County (8.40.030); after notice, an owner has three days to remove strayed livestock or face impoundment (8.40.040).