Animal Ordinances in Anaheim, CA

If you live in Anaheim or are thinking about moving there, animal ordinances are one of those things you probably won't think about until they affect you directly. Anaheim has 14 specific rules on the books covering different aspects of animal ordinances, and some of them might surprise you.

Pet Store Rules

Anaheim pet stores must comply with California AB 485, which prohibits retail sale of dogs, cats, and rabbits unless sourced from public shelters or qualifying nonprofit rescues, eliminating commercial puppy mill pipelines.

Key details: State law: AB 485 / HSC 122354.5. Allowed sources: Shelters, nonprofit rescues. Source labeling: Required on enclosure. Penalty: $500 per animal.

Selling commercially bred dogs, cats, or rabbits, failing to post source agency labels, or refusing inspection records exposes retailers to $500-per-animal civil penalties under state law.

This is one of the stricter rules in Anaheim's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Mandatory Spay/Neuter

Anaheim follows California state guidance and OC Animal Care policy requiring spay or neuter for adopted shelter animals, with intact-animal permits required for breeding dogs and unaltered animals subject to higher license fees.

Key details: Shelter adoption: Must be altered. Intact dog license: Higher annual fee. Repeat impound: Mandatory surgery. State authority: CA Food & Ag Code 30503.

Failing to sterilize an adopted shelter animal, keeping intact animals without proper licensing, or breeding without records exposes owners to fines and mandatory surgery before reclaim.

Pet Limits

Animal hoarding in Anaheim is addressed through animal keeping limits in the municipal code and nuisance abatement. Exceeding permitted animal numbers or maintaining unsanitary conditions triggers enforcement by Code Enforcement and OC Animal Care.

Key details: Animal Limits: Per zone in municipal code. OC Animal Care: (714) 935-6848. Cruelty Law: CA Penal Code 597. Code Enforcement: (714) 765-4413.

Exceeding animal limits: code violation with fines. Animal cruelty under PC 597: misdemeanor up to $20,000 fine and imprisonment. Nuisance conditions: abatement with cost recovery.

Veterinary Clinic Zoning

Anaheim allows veterinary clinics and animal boarding facilities in commercial and industrial zones only with conditional approval, and Municipal Code Sec. 18.38.270 layers on mandatory odor, sound, sanitation and waste-handling standards before the city issues a building permit.

Key details: Governing section: A.M.C. Sec. 18.38.270. Zoning status: Permitted with conditions (P/C), not by-right. Odor control: Mechanical equipment required, screened from view. Sound insulation: All holding rooms and demising walls. Enforcing division: Community Preservation Division, Planning Dept..

The Community Preservation Division of the Planning Department enforces the sanitation, odor and trash conditions attached to a veterinary or boarding use's conditional use permit; failure to maintain required soundproofing, odor control equipment, waste bag availability or approved trash enclosures is a permit compliance violation that can trigger code enforcement action against the CUP itself, not just a fine, since the use table classifies boarding and grooming as conditionally permitted rather than by-right.

Wildlife Rescue Permits

California Fish and Wildlife issues wildlife rehabilitator permits required to possess injured native wildlife in Anaheim, and unpermitted residents must transport injured animals promptly to a licensed rehabber.

Key details: Permit issuer: CA Fish & Wildlife. Citizen care window: Transport within 48 hours. Authority: 14 CCR 679. Local rehabbers: OC nonprofit centers.

Keeping injured native wildlife without a permit, attempting unauthorized rehabilitation, or releasing nonnative species can result in CDFW citations and confiscation under Title 14 regulations.

Cat Rules

Anaheim does not license cats or restrict them from running at large, but feeding feral or stray cats on public property requires registering as a cat caregiver with the Community Preservation Manager, and feeding on private property cannot create a nuisance.

Key details: Governing section: AMC § 6.44.010.130 (.1301). Public property feeding: requires registered cat caregiver permission. Private property feeding: unlawful only if it creates a nuisance. Framework: Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) recognized. Last amended: Ord. 6620, January 13, 2026.

Feeding feral or stray cats on public property without Community Preservation Manager permission, or feeding in a manner that creates a nuisance on private property, is enforced through the Chapter 6.44 nuisance process. A violation may be charged as a misdemeanor or infraction at the prosecutor's discretion under Section 6.44.170; a misdemeanor carries up to a $1,000 fine and six months in jail under Section 1.01.370, while an infraction carries a fine set by state law.

Bird Protection

Anaheim has banned killing native insectivorous birds since 1891, decades before state and federal wildlife law caught up. AMC Section 8.12.010 makes it unlawful for anyone within city limits to kill, maim, wound or destroy any swallow, mockingbird, blackbird, or other insectivorous bird. The ordinance carries no permit exception and predates the city's current animal-control code by more than a century.

Key details: Governing section: AMC Sec. 8.12.010, adopted by Ord. 68 in 1891. Protected species named: Swallow, mockingbird, blackbird, plus other insectivorous birds. Prohibited acts: Kill, maim, wound or destroy. Exceptions: None stated in the ordinance. Penalty: Misdemeanor, up to $1,000 and 6 months jail.

Killing, maiming, wounding or destroying a swallow, mockingbird, blackbird or other insectivorous bird within Anaheim is a misdemeanor under the Code's general penalty section, 1.01.370, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in jail, or both. Because Chapter 8.12 sets no separate enforcement scheme, an Anaheim police officer or code enforcement officer can cite a violation directly, and each bird killed or each day of ongoing harm can support a separate charge.

This is not one of those rules that cities tend to ignore. Anaheim actively enforces its bird protection requirements.

Pet Groomer Rules

Anaheim does not write its own pet-grooming rules: AMC Chapter 8.24 adopts Orange County's animal-facility ordinances by reference, including the provisions covering grooming parlors, kennels and pet shops. A violation of the adopted County grooming-parlor standards is a misdemeanor in Anaheim, enforced the same way it would be enforced in the County's own unincorporated territory.

Key details: Mechanism: Adoption by reference of OC Codified Ordinances Title 5. Governing sections: AMC Sec. 8.24.010, .030 and .040. Covers: Grooming parlors, kennels, pet shops, commercial stables. Zoning override: City zoning controls over conflicting adopted rules. Penalty for Title 5 violation: Misdemeanor, up to $1,000 and 6 months jail.

Section 8.24.020 sets the penalty scheme for the whole adopted animal-control framework, and its subsection .020 makes any violation of an adopted Title 5 provision, which includes the grooming-parlor sections, a misdemeanor. A misdemeanor conviction under Chapter 8.24 is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to six months in the County jail, or both, and each day a violation continues is treated as a separate offense.

Exotic Pets

Anaheim defers to Orange County and California Department of Fish and Wildlife for exotic pet regulations. Keeping wild, exotic, or dangerous animals requires a county license under OCCO 4-1-94. State permits may also be required.

Key details: License: County license required. State Permit: CDFW for many species. Enforcement: OC Animal Care. Code: OCCO 4-1-94 / AMC 18.38.030.

Keeping unpermitted exotic animals: impoundment and citation. County license violation: fine up to $1,000. State permit violations enforced by CDFW.

This is not one of those rules that cities tend to ignore. Anaheim actively enforces its exotic pets requirements.

Beekeeping

Keeping honey bee hives anywhere in Anaheim's corporate limits is unlawful under Municipal Code Chapter 6.28. The only path around the ban is a Conditional Use Permit on land zoned Transition (T), Single-Family Hillside Residential (RH-1), or the Anaheim Canyon Specific Plan No. 2015-01 zone.

Key details: General rule: All beehives banned citywide. Exception zones: T, RH-1, Anaheim Canyon SP 2015-01. Permit required: Conditional Use Permit under Title 18. Governing chapter: AMC Chapter 6.28. Last amended: Ord. 6358, February 9, 2016.

Chapter 6.28 does not carry its own penalty section, so a violation is enforced as a general Anaheim Municipal Code violation under Section 1.01.370, which makes any code violation a misdemeanor unless another section specifies otherwise; Community Preservation or Animal Control can order hive removal and cite the property owner or keeper.

This is one of the stricter rules in Anaheim's municipal code. If you are unsure whether your situation complies, it is worth checking with the city before proceeding.

Breed Restrictions

Anaheim does not impose breed-specific restrictions. California state law (Food & Agriculture Code 31683) prohibits breed-specific bans. Dangerous and vicious dogs are regulated based on behavior under state law and AMC Chapter 8.08.

Key details: Breed Bans: None (state preemption). Dog Limit: 3 per dwelling. Licensing: OC Animal Care. State Law: F&A Code 31601-31683.

Keeping an unlicensed dog: fine from OC Animal Care. Vicious dog at large: impoundment and potential criminal charges. Failure to comply with dangerous dog conditions: misdemeanor.

If you are coming from a city with tighter rules, you will find Anaheim gives residents more flexibility on breed restrictions.

Dog Leash Laws

Anaheim requires dogs in its public parks to stay on a leash, chain or other restraint no longer than six feet, with narrow carve-outs for the City's designated Dog Parks and for horses on certain trail-linked Special Use Parks. AMC Section 13.08.020 bans letting any animal run loose in a park, and a leash violation there can be charged as a criminal infraction.

Key details: Governing section: AMC Sec. 13.08.020(.010). Leash length limit: Six feet or less in public parks. Dog Park exception: Off-leash allowed in designated Dog Parks (Ch. 13.14). Applies to: All City-maintained dedicated parks and parkways. Penalty: Criminal infraction under Government Code Sec. 36900.

Most violations of Section 13.08.020, including letting a dog run loose off-leash in a park, are charged as a criminal infraction, punishable by the fine schedule in Government Code Section 36900. A short list of other park violations, covering conduct like smoking or unpermitted alcohol, may instead be filed as either an infraction or a misdemeanor at the City Attorney's discretion, but the base dog-at-large prohibition carries the standard infraction penalty.

Wildlife Feeding

Anaheim discourages feeding wildlife in public areas under general nuisance and park regulations. AMC Chapter 13.08 governs conduct in parks. Feeding coyotes or other wildlife that creates a public safety hazard may result in citation.

Key details: Coyote Feeding: Strongly discouraged. Parks: AMC Ch. 13.08 rules. State Agency: CDFW guidance. Nuisance: May be cited.

Creating a nuisance through wildlife feeding: code enforcement warning followed by citation. Feeding wildlife in parks: park rules violation.

Chickens & Livestock

Anaheim caps backyard poultry and rabbits at one animal per 1,800 square feet of lot area and bans roosters and peacocks in residential zones. Horses, cattle, sheep, goats and swine each carry their own minimum-acreage and per-animal spacing rules under the animal keeping ordinance.

Key details: Governing section: AMC Sec. 18.38.030. Poultry/rabbit limit: 1 per 1,800 sq ft of lot. Roosters/peacocks: Banned in residential zones. Livestock setback: 50 ft from habitation, 20 ft from line. Horse minimum lot: 1 acre (43,560 sq ft).

Keeping poultry, rabbits or livestock over the per-square-footage or per-acreage caps, keeping a rooster or peacock in a residential zone, or confining an animal closer than the 50-foot/20-foot buffers in subsection .020 is a zoning code violation the Planning Department enforces through code compliance action; animal welfare and licensing violations are separately enforced by Animal Care Services of the Orange County Health Care Agency under Chapter 8.08.

The Bottom Line

Anaheim is tougher than many cities when it comes to animal ordinances. Out of the 14 rules covered here, 4 are rated strict. If you are a homeowner, renter, or business owner in Anaheim, take the time to understand these requirements before they become a problem. Most violations come with fines, and some repeat violations can escalate.

All of the above reflects Anaheim's municipal code as of our last review. If you need specifics on fines, exemptions, or filing requirements, the detailed ordinance pages linked above have the full breakdown.