Can I fight it

[pauleberly]

I receive a letter saying I was in violation of Morristown TN law. The violation was having "fowl"

Can I fight the terminology? Can I say they are pets , or even poultry. Fowl seems like a very vague term.

I also have some Muscovy. I am hoping I can dismiss them as fowl as well

On the letter, it said I would have 10 days, then she crossed it out and put 24 hours. Can she legally do that?

 

[dekel18042]

I receive a letter saying I was in violation of Morristown TN law. The violation was having "fowl"

Can I fight the terminology? Can I say they are pets , or even poultry. Fowl seems like a very vague term.

I also have some Muscovy. I am hoping I can dismiss them as fowl as well

On the letter, it said I would have 10 days, then she crossed it out and put 24 hours. Can she legally do that?

Maybe. Is this your first letter. Go to your local government and get a copy of the law and read it. It might help you to get a lawyers interpretation.

 

[pauleberly]

Yes it's my first letter here is the original

See how she crossed off 10 days and rewrote 24 hours. Is that legal?

 

[pauleberly]

And here is my exact law

So where I am coming from is, these are domesticated pets, not "fowl". Also I do not consider them livestock because there is no intent on harvesting or use of commercial sales?

Has anyone ever gone to a court/hearing? Do you have to pay court cost even if you win?

 

[PirateGirl]

So generally somewhere in the beginning of the document with all of the animal control ordinances it will have a list of definitions and it will most likely further define "fowl" and you will better know if you can fight it on those grounds. In our ordinances we have fowl, small livestock, and large livestock, but in the definitions it actually lists all the types of animals that covers.

 

[PirateGirl]

Here is an excerpt from my local ordinance.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Your ducks and chickens are fowl. There is no getting around that. Your intention to not eat their eggs so they can't be livestock does not matter. Or were you eating eggs from your pets? The pet defense isn't going to work at all. As for the 24 hours that is ludacris. The reason 10 days is standard is it allows ample time to manage time and find housing and all the logistics involved. That can not be taken away from you. Any fine levied due to non compliance in 24 hours you can fight as long as you do get the birds gone by 10 days of that notice date. Basically you can only fight the time you have to comply.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I think youre going to have a really hard time with that argument.
Whether you consider them pets, domestic pets or poultry theyre still "fowl" and that may sound vague but thats because it is meant to cover chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, turkeys, quail, pheasants, etc.

IDK about that switching from 10 days to 24 hours. That seems kinda sketchy.

 

[sdm111]

Can't just re right ordinances at will to a person's liking. Still in violation though. The ordinance is rather clear to me what's legal and not

 

[PirateGirl]

It looks like the law doesn't say you can't have them, just that they need to be a 1000 ft from everything, can you relocate your coop to be in compliance?