6 rules for unincorporated Harford County, Maryland.
Verified from official government sources
Harford County allows homestead chickens on lots of at least 1 acre, capping flocks at 10 birds on lots under 2 acres and requiring a 50-foot coop setback from neighboring lot lines. A Maryland Department of Agriculture poultry registration must accompany the zoning certificate.
Harford County prohibits any dog from being at large: off the owner's property it must be leashed or under command control. Maryland makes an owner strictly liable for injury caused by a dog running at large, and every dog needs a current county license tag.
Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings Section 3-1901(c)
The owner of a dog is liable for any injury, death, or loss to person or property that is caused by the dog, while the dog is running at large, unless the injury, death, or loss was caused to the body or property of a person who was: (1) Committing or attempting to commit a trespass or other criminal offense on the property of the owner; (2) Committing or attempting to commit a criminal offense...
Maryland regulates dogs by individual behavior, not breed. Under Courts and Judicial Proceedings Section 3-1901, liability for a dog attack applies without regard to the dog's breed, abolishing the former pit-bull-specific rule, so no Harford County breed ban exists.
Md. Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings Section 3-1901(a)(1), (b)
evidence that the dog caused the personal injury or death creates a rebuttable presumption that the owner knew or should have known that the dog had vicious or dangerous propensities... the common law of liability relating to attacks by dogs against humans that existed on April 1, 2012, is retained as to the person without regard to the breed or heritage of the dog.
Beekeeping is legal across Harford County, but Maryland requires every beekeeper to register each colony annually with the Department of Agriculture by January 1 under Agriculture Section 5-503. Any newly acquired colony must be registered within 30 days. No county permit exists.
Md. Code, Agriculture Section 5-503
A beekeeper shall register annually with the Department each colony that it maintains... On or before January 1 of each year, the beekeeper shall complete and submit to the Department a registration form on which the beekeeper shall state the number of colonies he maintains and the location of each colony... Any person who is not registered as a beekeeper under this section and who acquires a c...
Maryland bans keeping dangerous exotic animals, so no Harford County resident may possess a big cat, bear, primate, or venomous snake. Criminal Law Section 10-621 prohibits importing, selling, or possessing these species, with narrow exemptions for licensed facilities.
Md. Code, Criminal Law Section 10-621
A person may not import into the State, offer for sale, trade, barter, possess, breed, or exchange a live: (i) fox, skunk, raccoon, or bear; ... (iii) member of the cat family other than the domestic cat; ... (vii) nonhuman primate, including a lemur, monkey, chimpanzee, gorilla, orangutan, marmoset, loris, or tamarin; or (viii) poisonous snake in the family groups of Hydrophidae, Elapidae, Vip...
Maryland prohibits continuing to place food that attracts black bears once the Department of Natural Resources gives notice, and Harford County's rural north sees bear activity. Feeding deer or wildlife that creates a nuisance is separately curbable. Backyard songbird feeders are generally allowed.
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