Cities’ Animal Control Ordinances Reflect Their Differing Pet Peeves

If it’s true that Old MacDonald had a farm, you can bet his livestock didn’t live in any city in Ventura County.

He would have yelled “E-I-E-I-O” the minute a code enforcement officer knocked on his barn door and told him, “No moos here and no baas there--and you’ll need a permit for a quack or a neigh everywhere.”

Although each city has its own set of rules when it comes to potbellied pigs, bees, monkeys, oxen or the occasional iguana, “barnyard animals” are the biggest neigh-neigh as far as domestic pets go.

But there are exceptions.

Oxnard bans roosters, for instance, but allows hens--you may keep up to 25.

And just because you are not allowed to keep a potbellied pig named Oscar as a pet in Camarillo does not mean you cannot keep one in Simi Valley.

In fact, Simi Valley appears to be quite fond of the trendy animals. The city allows “up to four Vietnamese potbellied pigs” as house pets.

In Fillmore, it’s nix to chickens. But the city isn’t fowl-tempered across the board.

“We take potbellied pigs on an ad hoc basis,” said Vance Johnson, the city’s code enforcer, or as he described himself, “the head chicken cop of Fillmore.”

“You might have to show us that the pig is a pet,” Johnson said. “These things are case-by-case. We’ve had a couple of calls on pet potbellied pigs, and sometimes we go out and find the pig is in a sty.”

In other words, don’t try to sell the city of Fillmore a pig in a poke.

“Fillmore is an agricultural town,” Johnson added. “We try to get along. Our code is designed to be flexible.”

For instance, although it’s not written down anywhere, Johnson volunteered that when he is the code enforcement officer on duty, “gorillas can pretty much do what they want.”

And when it comes to snakes, Johnson takes a similar laissez faire approach: “When snakes are around, we haul out of there.”

Johnson added diplomatically, “we’re tightening up policy ever since one was caught on the mayor’s front porch.”

On the issue of equines, the city of Moorpark is more liberal than, say, Thousand Oaks. (Remember the brouhaha in Thousand Oaks over Patches the miniature horse?)

“Yes, we allow miniature horses, if they’re being kept as a pet,” said Craig Malin, a Moorpark planning official. “That goes for potbellied pigs, too. But we do ban barnyard animals and peacocks except in agricultural areas.”

Oxnard’s animal ordinance is strict on swine: no oinkers, potbellied or not.

“Unless you can teach it to bark, it’s not a dog,” explained Ray Mattley, the city’s senior code enforcement officer.

What about roosters?

“No roosters. You can keep up to 25 rabbits or chickens or a combination thereof,” Mattley read from the code book.

He continued, “No horse, no mule, jack, jenny, cow, bull, heifer, sheep or goat. And no keeping bees.”

No pet bees?

“Not unless you’ve got a special permit,” Mattley said, which may explain why one sees so few bees on leashes in Oxnard.

“Now, a well-behaved iguana can live in Oxnard,” said Mattley. “Monkeys, too. But here we’re getting into critters that require a Fish and Game permit or exotic animal permit.”

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Then there is Thousand Oaks. The city refuses to look a gift horse--miniature or otherwise--in the mouth if you’re not zoned for it. Ditto for pigs and chickens.

“Our policy is the same,” said code supervisor Geoff Ware. “They’re allowed only in an area zoned for it.”

For instance, a miniature horse is allowed by permit, as is a thoroughbred, and only on a minimum 20,000-square-foot lot. They don’t horse around in Thousand Oaks.

In Ventura, the potbellied pig became a hot political potato a few years ago, said senior code inspector Sue Taylor.

“We got a complaint several years ago about Penny the potbellied pig,” Taylor said. “I went and gave a notice. Then a potbellied pig alliance formed and forced the issue.”

The city ended up rewriting its domestic animal ordinance to allow Vietnamese potbellied pigs.

But Ventura code enforcement remains firm on alligators--you may not keep one as a pet.

The code is clear on roosters, but iffy when it comes to chickens. “We don’t all agree on chickens,” Taylor said, adding that they are farm animals.

Taylor usually deals with more mundane creatures. “I’d say that most of our complaints are too many dogs. Three adult dogs is the maximum in Ventura.”

What about gophers?

“There’s nothing about gophers in the ordinance--gophers are like cats--it’s hard to prove ownership,” Taylor said.

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Cats differ from gophers in one important way--you can own only six in Ventura, whereas there is no limit on pet gophers.

As for pet miniature horses inside the city limits, Ventura’s stance is similar to Fillmore’s on potbellied pigs: It’s an ad hoc thing.

Compared to miserly Ventura’s three-dog limit, Ojai allows its residents to own up to five dogs and a horse on lots of 15,000 square feet or more.

“But I get a lot of complaints about them--the smell, the flies and the dust that blows,” said Ojai official Brian Meadows.

He added that as far as the town, also known as Shangri-La, is concerned, “a miniature horse is a horse.” It might as well be the size of a Clydesdale; it still needs a 15,000-square-foot lot.

Ojai will, however, give you a permit for chickens. But in many ways, it’s like Fillmore.

“In smaller towns, the case-by-case basis works,” Meadows said. “If people complained, I expect we’d treat a peacock like a rooster.”

Simi Valley’s ordinance actually states that “birds of the psittacine [or parrot] family are welcome,” said Joe Hreha, deputy director of community services.

He added that Simi’s definition of a domestic creature is one that might be found in a pet store--mice, rats, tropical fish, canaries, turtles, guinea pigs and hamsters. This is in addition to the parrots and Vietnamese potbellied pigs.

It’s definitely a jungle out there.

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Banned Animals

Each city in Ventura County has its own regulations, but in general having farm animals as pets is usually not allowed. Shown below are a few of the banned animals:

Camarillo: Potbellied pigs

Fillmore: Chickens

Oxnard: Roosters