There's a lot of folks with "home businesses" who are unaware of local codes, or who do so because they've been told "It's fine as long as you're not making a nuisance." Doesn't mean he's right to violate code, but a lot of places have various codes that contradict each other, and it's impossible to sort out all of the junk.

With the burmese, I would bet he was supposed to euthanize them or turn them over to some place and just wanted them badly enough to keep them even though he knows they're illegal. Or perhaps he thought he might be able to sell them to legal people? No telling.