10 county-level rules, plus city-specific rules for 1 city in St. Lucie County, Florida.
Verified from official government sources
Unincorporated St. Lucie County permits up to five backyard chickens for personal use through its Backyard Chicken Program on qualifying residential lots. Port St. Lucie does not allow backyard chickens.
Florida has no statewide leash law, so St. Lucie County sets the rule. Dogs must be under the owner's restraint, and any dog classified dangerous must be muzzled and leashed whenever outside its enclosure.
St. Lucie County has no breed ban. Florida law bars local governments from regulating dogs by breed, weight, or size, so pit bulls and other breeds cannot be singled out for restrictions.
Fla. Stat. 767.14
This act does not limit any local government... from adopting an ordinance... placing further restrictions or additional requirements on owners of dogs that have bitten or attacked persons or domestic animals... provided that no such regulation is specific to breed, weight, or size.
St. Lucie County cannot ban or zone honeybee colonies. Florida preempts beekeeping regulation to the state; hobbyist and commercial beekeepers register with the Department of Agriculture (FDACS) instead of the county.
Fla. Stat. 586.10
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.
Keeping non-native or wild animals is governed by Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, not St. Lucie County. Class I animals are barred as pets, Class II and III require FWC permits or licenses.
Florida's FWC bans intentionally feeding many wild animals, including bears, alligators, foxes, and sandhill cranes. Violations start as a civil penalty and can escalate to criminal charges for repeat bear or crocodilian offenses.
FAC 68A-4.001; Fla. Stat. 379.412
The FWC has several rules that prohibit feeding wildlife, including bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, pelicans, sandhill cranes, bald eagles, alligators and crocodiles.
Livestock keeping in St. Lucie County follows agricultural zoning in the Land Development Code, and Florida's Right to Farm Act bars local governments from restricting bona fide farm operations on agricultural land.
Fla. Stat. 823.14(6)
a local government may not adopt any ordinance, regulation, rule, or policy to prohibit, restrict, regulate, or otherwise limit an activity of a bona fide farm operation on land classified as agricultural land
St. Lucie County has no single 'hoarding' ordinance, but its animal-care standards require adequate food, water, shelter, and veterinary care, and Florida's cruelty statute criminalizes confining animals without proper sustenance.
St. Lucie County sets no simple numeric limit on household pets, but every dog and cat four months or older in the unincorporated county must be currently registered and rabies-vaccinated.
Cats four months or older in unincorporated St. Lucie County must be currently registered with a county ID tag and rabies-vaccinated. There is no statewide leash requirement for cats.
1 cities in St. Lucie County have their own animal ordinances rules. Each link goes to that city's dedicated page with code citations.
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