Animal Ordinances in Hialeah, FL (2026)
6 verified animal ordinances for Hialeah, Florida, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Chickens & Livestock
Hialeah bans keeping livestock, including chickens and other fowl, anywhere in the city except on property lawfully zoned agricultural. Sec. 10-1 defines livestock to include fowl, emus, rheas and ostriches, and Sec. 10-2(a) makes harboring livestock unlawful citywide. The only carve-out is agriculturally zoned land, excluding mobile home parks, where housing must still sit 100 feet from any dwelling.
Hialeah Backyard Chicken and Livestock Ban
Heavy RestrictionsHialeah Code of Ordinances Sec. 10-1; Sec. 10-2(a)
Livestock means horses, cattle, sheep, llamas, goats, swine of any type including potbellied pigs, mules, donkeys, fowl, emus, rheas, or ostriches. ... (a)It shall be unlawful for any person to harbor, maintain, control, as defined by F.S. § 828.27(1)(c), or keep any livestock or wild, dangerous, undomesticated or vicious animals in the city.
Dog Leash Laws
Hialeah bars owners from letting any animal roam 'at large,' meaning off the owner's premises or beyond the owner's custody and control. Sec. 10-2(c) makes it unlawful to permit an animal to be at large in the city, and Sec. 10-1 defines the term, so a loose dog on a public street or a neighbor's yard is a Code violation.
Hialeah Dogs at Large Leash Law
Some RestrictionsHialeah Code of Ordinances Sec. 10-1; Sec. 10-2(c)
At large means off the premises or beyond the custody and control of the owner or other person responsible. ... (c)It is unlawful for the owner or person having custody or control of any animal to permit the animal to be at large within the city.
Beekeeping
Florida law strips Hialeah of any power to regulate backyard beekeeping. F.S. § 586.10(1) preempts 'the authority to regulate, inspect, and permit managed honeybee colonies and to adopt rules on the placement and location of registered inspected managed honeybee colonies' to the state, superseding any city or county ordinance. Hialeah's own Sec. 10-3(b) only exempts bees on agriculturally zoned land from its livestock ban.
Hialeah Backyard Beekeeping State Preemption
Few RestrictionsFlorida Statutes § 586.10
(1) The authority to regulate, inspect, and permit managed honeybee colonies and to adopt rules on the placement and location of registered inspected managed honeybee colonies is preempted to the state through the department and supersedes any related ordinance adopted by a county, municipality, or political subdivision thereof. (2) The department shall: (a) Administer and enforce this chapter....
Exotic Pets
Hialeah bans keeping any wild, dangerous or undomesticated animal as a pet, from predatory mammals to reptiles and game birds. Sec. 10-2(a) makes it unlawful to 'harbor, maintain, control...or keep any livestock or wild, dangerous, undomesticated or vicious animals in the city,' and Sec. 10-1 defines the banned category broadly, with only narrow pet-shop and nonpoisonous-snake exceptions.
Hialeah Wild and Dangerous Animal Ban
Heavy RestrictionsHialeah Code of Ordinances Sec. 10-1
Wild, dangerous or undomesticated animals means and includes any wild mammal, predatory animal, reptile, game bird, or fowl, not of a species customarily used as ordinary house pets, including pigeons, unless such pigeons are of an ornamental species specifically bred for exhibition or trained as a homing, carrier, tumbling or racing pigeon... but rather are animals not naturally tame or gentle...
Wildlife Feeding
Hialeah prohibits feeding wildlife that creates public nuisances, particularly feral cats, iguanas, and waterfowl. The city's warm climate and canal systems attract significant wildlife. Miami-Dade County Animal Services enforces wildlife feeding restrictions. Trash must be secured to prevent attracting raccoons, opossums, and rodents.
Hialeah Wildlife Feeding Regulations
Some RestrictionsFla. Stat. § 379.412 (2024) - Penalties for feeding wildlife and freshwater fish
The penalties in this section apply to a violation of any rule or order of the commission that prohibits or restricts: 1. Feeding wildlife or freshwater fish with food or garbage; 2. Attracting or enticing wildlife or freshwater fish with food or garbage; or 3. Allowing the placement of food or garbage in a manner that attracts or entices wildlife or freshwater fish. (b) This section does not a...
Veterinary Clinic Zoning
Hialeah allows veterinarians to operate as a permitted professional-services use in the RO residential office district under Code Sec. 98-777, the same category as physicians and dentists. The city draws a hard line elsewhere, though: Secs. 98-973 and 98-1023 flatly bar medical clinics and veterinary offices from the CBD central business district and the OPS office and professional services district.
Hialeah Veterinary Office Zoning Rules
Some RestrictionsHialeah Code of Ordinances Sec. 98-777
In the RO residential office district, no building or land shall be used and no building shall be erected, constructed, reconstructed, or structurally altered which is designed, arranged or intended to be used or occupied for any purpose, unless its use complies with this division. The following principal uses and structures shall be permitted within the district: (1)Professional services. Offi...
Looking for Miami-Dade County county-wide rules?
County ordinances apply to unincorporated areas and may supplement Hialeah city rules.
Animal Ordinances in Miami-Dade County →