Citizen Complaints

Nuisance Animal Complaint Procedure

The Oxnard Animal Safety enforces ordinances prohibiting the ownership or maintenance of animal nuisances in the City limits of Oxnard. The ordinance addresses certain animal activities that can be construed as nuisance behavior such as excessive barking, infliction of injury to a person or other animal, destruction of property and vicious or threatening behavior.

The most frustrating problem for most residents is the barking dog. Regrettably, this is a frequent complaint, which is very frustrating for those who are being deprived of the comfortable enjoyment of their homes by noisy animals. While animal safety will make every effort to help resolve these complaints, we cannot do anything without the assistance and cooperation of you and your neighbors. The following is intended to explain the role as one initiating the complaint.

Please download the PRELIMINARY NUISANCE COMPLAINT FORM, fill it out completely and fax or mail it to Oxnard Animal Safety Services (OACS).

• The complaining party initiates the preliminary complaint by mailing or faxing in the completed form. OACS will verify all information provided, check on the license and vaccination status of the animals involved and send written notification of the complaint to the owner/keeper of the alleged nuisance. At the time you submit this complaint we strongly urge you begin the maintenance of a "barking" log detailing the date, time and duration of the barking.
• The owner of the alleged nuisance dog(s) is given up to 14 days to resolve the situation.
• If the problem continues, you must file a formal complaint with OACS. In order to do this, you will need to contact the administrative office by phone at (805) 385-7640 to request that a formal complaint packet be mailed to you.
• Once you and your co-complainant(s) have completed the forms they should be mailed back to OACS. In order to process this complaint and proceed towards the next step we require that you and your qualifying co-complainants keep and submit a log on which you have recorded dates and times of nuisance barking over at least a 14-day period.
• Upon receipt of the completed Formal Complaint Forms and your corresponding "barking" logs, a formal notice will be sent or delivered to the owner/keeper of the alleged nuisance dogs. This letter defines the nuisance laws and outlines the legal proceedings that will follow if the nuisance is not abated.
• The owner/keeper of the alleged nuisance dog(s) is now given another 14 days to resolve the situation. If the problem persists you must notify the administrative office again at (805) 385-7640. At that time, you must request that the process go forward and that a hearing date be set.
• Notices of the date, time and location of the hearing will be served upon or sent to the owner of the alleged nuisance and all parties involved in the complaint.
• If any party in the action is unable to attend the hearing at the date/time scheduled, they should immediately contact the administrative office to request a postponement.
• If at any time during the process the situation is resolved and you wish to withdraw your request for a hearing, please contact the administrative office immediately. Should the situation reappear you will need to send in a currently dated complaint form along with an updated barking log and a written request to reinstate your complaint.

Hopefully, the matter will be resolved with the first contact and you and your neighbors can live in peace and comfort.

For further questions or information about the nuisance complaint procedure, please contact Oxnard Animal Safety Services at: