10 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 4 cities in Hidalgo County, Texas.
Verified from official government sources
Hidalgo County has no published backyard-chicken permit or poultry cap for unincorporated areas. Keeping poultry and farm animals is governed by state stock-law and estray provisions in the Texas Agriculture Code, and whether livestock may roam depends on the county's range status.
In unincorporated Hidalgo County, dogs are controlled through the county's Rabies Control Authority and Texas law rather than a published municipal leash code. Texas Health and Safety Code Sec. 826.033 lets counties require restraint and impound stray or unrestrained dogs and cats.
Texas Health & Safety Code Secs. 822.007, 822.012 (Local Leash Authority; Dogs Running at Large)
Sec. 822.007. LOCAL REGULATION OF DOGS. This subchapter does not prohibit a municipality or county from adopting leash or registration requirements applicable to dogs. ... Sec. 822.012. CERTAIN DOGS AND COYOTES PROHIBITED FROM RUNNING AT LARGE; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) The owner, keeper, or person in control of a dog or coyote that the owner, keeper, or person knows is accustomed to run, worry, or...
Hidalgo County does not ban or restrict any dog breed, and Texas law forbids it from doing so. Health and Safety Code Sec. 822.047 lets a county add dangerous-dog rules only if they are not specific to a breed. Dangerous dogs are handled by individual conduct, not breed.
Hidalgo County publishes no beekeeping or hive ordinance for unincorporated areas; its animal function centers on rabies and stray dogs and cats. Bees in Texas are regulated at the state level by the Texas Apiary Inspection Service under the Texas Agriculture Code.
Hidalgo County has no separate exotic-pet permit scheme; its animal function is rabies control and stray dogs and cats. Dangerous wild animals in Texas are governed by Health and Safety Code Chapter 822, Subchapter E, which requires a certificate of registration and liability insurance.
Hidalgo County publishes no ordinance banning the feeding of wildlife in unincorporated areas. Feeding of wild game is instead governed by Texas Parks and Wildlife rules, and food left out that attracts strays or vermin can be treated as a nuisance.
In unincorporated Hidalgo County, loose livestock is handled through Texas state law, not a county animal code. The Agriculture Code lets a county adopt a stock law restricting animals from running at large, and lets the sheriff impound estrays found roaming.
Hidalgo County has no ordinance using the word 'hoarding,' but neglect of many animals is reachable through Texas cruelty law and the county's rabies and stray-animal duties. Serious neglect can be charged under Penal Code Sec. 42.09 and Sec. 42.092.
Hidalgo County publishes no numeric limit on how many dogs or cats a household may keep in the unincorporated areas. The practical constraints are state rabies-vaccination duties and general nuisance rules, not a per-household pet cap.
Hidalgo County has no published cat-leash ordinance, but state law applies. Every cat must be vaccinated against rabies under Health and Safety Code Sec. 826.021, and a cat that bites can be quarantined or observed by the county's Rabies Control Authority.
4 cities in Hidalgo County have their own animal ordinances rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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