Maui County, HI Animal Ordinances: Pet Limits (2026)

Section R326 of the Maui County Residential Code, added by Ordinance No. 3929 in 2012, was written primarily to keep livestock and poultry away from homes: horses, cows, calves, swine, goats, chickens, ducks and pigeons cannot be kept within twenty feet of a dwelling anywhere on Maui, Molokai or Lanai. The same sentence carves out an exception for household pets, dogs, cats, birds and other small domesticated animals, so they are not subject to the twenty-foot livestock setback at all. Instead of a numeric cap like some jurisdictions use, Maui County's ordinance uses a "reasonable number" standard, leaving the determination to the Department of Public Works, which administers the Residential Code island-wide, and to Maui Police Department officers responding to nuisance or animal-welfare complaints.

Because the rule is complaint-driven rather than registration-based, there is no permit, license cap, or inspection tied to how many pets a household keeps; the county's building and health officials instead evaluate whether the number of animals on a property creates a nuisance, sanitation problem, or safety hazard before treating it as a violation of the residential code. The Residential Code chapter does not spell out its own fine for a Section R326 violation, so a violation defaults to the county's catch-all penalty provision applicable when a code section carries no stated punishment.