Tom, from everything I read, it seemed that you knew you'd have to get the permit and ignored it or that you had not even checked to see if you needed a permit. I apologize if that was not the case. I can understand if you checked state and county regulations and somehow overlooked the city ones. It's one thing that's been mentioned to people here and elsewhere, how the regulations, permits, laws and requirements can vary according to federal, state, county, city or even neighborhoods because it's often very confusing.

Sorry you're having the issues and hopefully you can get it straightened out.

I would agree however that pointing fingers and declaring how "Bob has hamsters!" and such, saying that other people also have pets that fall under the same law should be fined is a poor choice of tactic. It would probably be better to get your permit and try to get the rule changed by working with the authorities and pointing out that the wording is too all-encompassing since it covers everything but domestics and natives.

Making it clearer that you wanted to follow the laws to begin with, and that you think the rules should be changed for future keepers of all pets would probably be a better PR move.