Santa Clarita, CA Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Feeding (2026)

84 of the Santa Clarita Municipal Code, adopted by Ordinance 91-29 in 1991, targets backyard feeding of coyotes, raccoons and ground squirrels directly. 010(A) states plainly that except as otherwise provided, no person shall feed or in any manner provide food to a nondomesticated rodent or a nondomesticated mammalian predator. Subsection (B) defines the covered animals: "Rodent" includes ground squirrels, and "Mammalian predators" includes coyote, raccoon, fox and opossum, so leaving out cat food for raccoons or scattering seed for ground squirrels both fall inside the ban.

020: first, when the feeder owns the animal and it is held under a valid permit or certificate from the State of California Department of Fish and Game, and second, when a person feeds a trapped, injured or unweaned wild rodent or predator only between the time animal control is notified and the time the agency actually picks the animal up. Outside those two carve-outs there is no general permit process, no seasonal exception and no property-size exemption; the prohibition applies citywide regardless of zoning.

100, and its officers respond to complaints about coyotes and raccoons congregating around a residence because of deliberate feeding. Because an animal that repeatedly associates a yard with food is more likely to become bold around pets and children, the City treats this chapter as a public-safety measure, citing it separately from the general animals-at-large and licensing chapters elsewhere in Title 8.