10 rules for unincorporated Modoc County, California.
Verified from official government sources
Modoc County is a rural high-desert ranching county and does not have a backyard-chicken ordinance or a hen-count limit in its animal code. Title 6 (Animals) regulates only dogs and bees. Keeping chickens and small livestock is governed by zoning, and most of the county is agricultural or open range.
In unincorporated Modoc County, no person may let a dog roam or stray off the premises where it is kept unless it is in the company and under the control of a responsible person. Working stock dogs and lawful hunting dogs are deemed under control. A violation is a misdemeanor with a minimum $25 fine.
Modoc County's Dog Control ordinance contains no breed-specific bans or breed-based licensing. Dog regulation is conduct-based, using California's potentially-dangerous and vicious-dog framework. California Food & Agricultural Code 31683 also bars local dog programs from being breed-specific, except for spay/neuter rules.
Modoc County has a detailed apiary ordinance (Chapter 6.06, adopted 2024). Hives generally must sit at least 300 feet from a dwelling and 100 feet from a public road, registered commercial apiaries keep a 1.5-mile buffer from other beekeepers, and Africanized honey bees are banned. The County Agricultural Commissioner enforces it.
Modoc County's animal code (Title 6) does not contain a county exotic-pet or wild-animal ordinance; it regulates only dogs and bees. Exotic and wild animals are therefore governed by California state law, chiefly the Fish and Game Code restricted-species rules and CCR Title 14 Section 671, which ban keeping most wild animals as pets without a permit.
Modoc County's code has no ordinance banning the feeding of deer, bears, or other wildlife. The county's animal code covers only dogs and bees. California state regulation (CCR Title 14 Section 251.3) prohibits intentionally feeding big game mammals such as deer and bears, and CDFW discourages feeding all wildlife.
Modoc is a major ranching county and is statutorily 'open range' under California Food & Agricultural Code Section 17123, which names Modoc among grazing counties. On open range the duty is to 'fence out': a landowner generally cannot take up straying stock unless the land is fully enclosed by a lawful fence. The county code adds no separate livestock chapter.
Modoc County has no standalone hoarding ordinance and no pet-number limit or kennel cap in its code. Its animal code bars abandoning or dumping animals (Section 6.02.109) and requires care of impounded animals. Severe hoarding and neglect are prosecuted statewide under California Penal Code 597 and 597.1.
Modoc County's animal code sets no numerical limit on how many dogs, cats, or other pets a household may keep, and contains no kennel-licensing chapter. The only per-animal requirement is that each dog over four months old be licensed and vaccinated. Cats are not licensed under the County Code.
Modoc County's animal code does not regulate cats. The Dog Control ordinance applies to dogs only, so there is no county cat license, cat-leash, or cat-at-large rule. California's general rabies and animal-cruelty laws still apply, and cats are protected from neglect under state Penal Code 597.
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