10 rules for unincorporated Tehama County, California.
Verified from official government sources
Tehama County is a major agricultural county, so keeping poultry and small livestock is broadly allowed where zoning permits. The County Zoning Code (Title 17) sets the numbers: in the R-1 residential district a lot may keep up to twelve hens or rabbits and no other animals beyond household pets; agricultural districts allow far more.
In unincorporated Tehama County, dogs are regulated under Title 7 (Animals) of the County Code, enforced by the Tehama County Animal Care Center. County guidance states a dog leaving its owner's property must be restrained by a substantial leash and under the owner's physical control; at-large dogs may be impounded. Red Bluff and Corning set their own rules.
Unincorporated Tehama County does not impose any breed-specific dog ban. California law (Food & Agricultural Code 31683) prohibits local dangerous-dog programs from being specific as to breed, except for limited spay/neuter or breeding rules. Tehama County regulates dogs by individual behavior through Title 7 (including Chapter 7.30 on potentially dangerous and vicious dogs) and the state dangerous-dog framework.
Beekeeping is allowed in unincorporated Tehama County - the Zoning Code treats apiaries as 'light agriculture' in agricultural districts. There is no published countywide hive-count cap, but every California beekeeper must register their apiary annually with the County Agricultural Commissioner under the Apiary Protection Act (Food & Agricultural Code, Division 13), even for a single hive.
Exotic and wild animals in unincorporated Tehama County are governed mainly by California state law. CCR Title 14 section 671 and Fish & Game Code 2118 classify many species (most wild carnivores, primates, ferrets, hedgehogs) as restricted, requiring a state permit not issued for personal pets. Tehama County's Title 7 code and zoning can add local controls.
California law prohibits knowingly feeding big-game mammals such as bears and deer (CCR Title 14 section 251.3), and that applies in unincorporated Tehama County. The County publishes no separate feeding ordinance; predator conflicts (bears, mountain lions) and depredation are handled by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Trapping and relocating wildlife is generally prohibited under state law.
Tehama is a working cattle-and-sheep county (home of the Red Bluff Round-Up), and livestock keeping is a core land use on zoned parcels. The Zoning Code sets density (about one livestock animal per acre in the Animal Raising district). California's Food & Agricultural Code governs estrays and livestock on highways, and Tehama is a historic 'grazing county.'
Animal hoarding in unincorporated Tehama County is addressed through the County's Title 7 animal code, the five-dog/kennel limit, and California Penal Code 597, which makes neglect and cruelty - including keeping so many animals their health is compromised - prosecutable. The Tehama County Animal Care Center investigates cruelty complaints and can impound animals kept in unsafe conditions.
Tehama County caps private dog ownership at five dogs over four months per premises; keeping more requires a commercial kennel, hobby kennel, or working-dog license. All dogs over four months must be licensed through the Animal Care Center. The Zoning Code also caps pot-bellied pigs at five in residential districts. One-year license fees are $15 altered, $35 unaltered.
Cats are largely unregulated in unincorporated Tehama County. The County's published animal regulations state cats are not regulated and Animal Control will not pick up strays, though the Animal Care Center accepts surrendered cats (waiting list plus impound fee). There is no countywide cat license or leash rule; the County recommends spaying or neutering at four to six months.
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