10 rules for unincorporated Lassen County, California.
Verified from official government sources
Lassen County's animal code (Title 8) does not impose a countywide backyard-chicken count limit; poultry keeping is governed mainly by zoning. Whether and how many chickens you may keep depends on your parcel's zoning district, so contact Lassen County Planning & Building Services to confirm allowed uses for your property.
Lassen County Code Title 8 (Animals), Chapter 8.08 (General Animal Regulations), bars owners from letting any animal stray off their premises. While off the property the animal must be under leash control of a competent person. Animals that stray, trespass or run at large are declared nuisances.
Lassen County does not ban any dog breed. Chapter 8.08 of the County Code incorporates California Food & Agricultural Code sections 31602-31605 and 31621-31626 on potentially dangerous and vicious dogs, which regulate dogs by individual behavior rather than breed. California law (Food & Ag Code 31683) bars breed-specific bans.
Lassen County Code Title 8 includes Chapter 8.20 (Apiaries) addressing beekeeping in the unincorporated county. Statewide, California Food & Agricultural Code 29040 requires every beekeeper to register apiaries annually with the County Agricultural Commissioner (now via the BeeWhere system), with no minimum colony threshold.
Possession of wild and exotic animals in unincorporated Lassen County is controlled mainly by California law. California Fish & Game Code 2118 and Title 14 CCR section 671 list restricted species (big cats, primates, ferrets, hedgehogs and many others) that may not be kept as pets without a CDFW Restricted Species Permit, which is not issued for private pet ownership.
California law prohibits knowingly feeding big-game mammals. Title 14 CCR section 251.3 bars knowingly feeding big game — including deer, elk, antelope, wild pig, black bear and bighorn sheep — statewide, which applies in unincorporated Lassen County. Feeding such wildlife can also create nuisance and public-safety problems.
Lassen County is a ranching county where cattle, horses and sheep are widely kept and open-range conditions are common. As one of California's northern grazing counties, estray/'fencing-out' rules under Food & Agricultural Code sections 17121-17128 apply: in areas devoted chiefly to grazing, landowners must fence livestock out with a lawful fence.
Animal hoarding is addressed mainly by California law. Penal Code section 597 makes neglect and cruelty — including keeping more animals than you can properly feed, water, shelter and care for — a crime chargeable as a misdemeanor or felony. Lassen County Animal Control and the Sheriff enforce neglect cases and may seize animals.
Lassen County does not cap ordinary household pets, but a 'kennel' is defined in Title 8 (Ch. 8.04) as premises where six or more dogs over six months old are kept overnight; keeping that many requires a kennel license. Veterinary hospitals and government animal shelters are excepted from the kennel definition.
Lassen County's Title 8 animal code centers on dogs; its general animal regulations (Ch. 8.08 against straying, trespassing and nuisance animals) apply to cats too, but there is no countywide mandatory cat-license requirement comparable to dog licensing. Cats brought to the County shelter are handled by Lassen County Animal Control.
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