Fresno County, CA Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

16 of the county code, Rodents and Predatory Animals, makes eradication a county duty rather than a private obligation. 010 requires the agricultural commissioner to act whenever an infestation of rodents or predatory animals exists on any premises in the county, and lets the commissioner inspect any property to determine whether it is infested. The reasonable expenses of eradication are charged to the county, not billed directly to the landowner under this section. 020 gives the commissioner authority to prescribe eradication methods and even manufacture and sell poison barley and other control materials at cost to anyone who gives satisfactory assurance the materials will be used on county premises for rodent or predatory-animal control.

The chapter also reaches larger predatory species covered elsewhere in Title 9, since 'predatory animals' is not limited to rats and mice. 040 backs the program with a criminal penalty: interfering with the official actions of the agricultural commissioner or local health officer while they carry out this chapter is a misdemeanor. The chapter traces to Ordinance 555 from 1973, prior code section 420, and was last amended by Ordinance 17-022 in 2017, so the county-run, cost-absorbed model has been in place for decades rather than being a recent policy shift.