Santa Barbara County, CA Animal Ordinances: Wildlife Rescue Permits (2026)

5. The Development Code defines rehabilitation narrowly as "the provision of nursing care to sick or injured wildlife prior to returning the animal to the wild," and it applies only to wildlife species that commonly occur within the county, not to a general wild-animal-keeping license. No planning permit is required for that nursing-care activity itself, though the code flags two carve-outs: permits may still be required for structures built to enclose or house the animals under other Development Code provisions, and separate County Code chapters (such as animal control or public health) can impose their own permitting on top of the zoning exemption.

Once a facility is operating, it must meet the same odor, vector-control and animal-waste standards written for animal keeping generally, including keeping enclosures free of manure buildup and disease-vector breeding sites. This permit-exempt LUDC provision governs the inland unincorporated county; Montecito operates under a parallel, identically worded exemption at Sec. 040(F)(4) of the Montecito Land Use and Development Code, and the separate Coastal Zoning Ordinance carries its own version at Sec. 35-144H for the Coastal Zone outside Montecito, so operators near the coast should confirm which of the three chapters applies to their parcel.