- dfb via flickr
- OK to have goldfish in your soup?
A proposal from animal rights activists to ban sales of all pets, including goldfish, in San Francisco to end animal cruelty is receiving a lot of press.
Although SF City Hall insiders think it is highly unlikely that it will pass, the proposed legislation has already drawn quite a bit of opposition. The Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal to ban the sale of not just dogs and cats, but also parrots, mice, rats, snakes, lizards and guinea pigs has been dubbed “stupid” by breeders and pet store owners who deny that they encourage impulse buying.
Although the proposal bans the sale of all mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians, it allows the sale of live animals for human consumption. And, even if the proposal bans the buying and selling of pets within city limits, it probably won’t stop people from buying a cat or goldfish in Oakland or Berkeley or even over the Internet. The ban’s opponents are also concerned that it would force a number of local businesses to close, some of whom actually care about the animals they sell.
The city is doing some things right, however. Starting early fall, SF will start a free prescription drug take-back pilot program funded by pharmaceutical bigwigs. The city hopes that the pharmaceutical industry will continue to fund the program once the pilot ends.
All they’d have to do is reopen their pet stores as specialty meat shops (“Live Dog! Cat by the pound!”) and there’s no problem. Animal cruelty fixed! Thanks, PETA!
First they were after your cock (http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=13…)… now they’re after your pussy!
….sorry, I just had to.
Yes, conservatives, we have our nutjobs too! But we mock ours (as we mock our moderates), and they AREN’T RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT!
I’d like to make some fresh PETA Member Roast for dinner tonight. Naturally, I wouldn’t actually buy the PETA member that I select for roasting so I can help end cruelty.
And then they wonder why the rest of the country thinks San Francisco is full of kooks.
@5, no one in SF wonders that. They know exactly why, and aren’t interested.
I’m tempted to scoff at this one completely, but I do seem some logic to at least limiting (if not banning) the sale of any kind of animal that can be found in an animal shelter. There’s no shortage of free cats and dogs out there who need homes…
I’m a Berkeley resident and I think it’s important to clarify that you CANNOT buy or adopt a pet in Berkeley and be a pet owner. You can however buy or adopt “companion animal” and be their “owner/guardian.”
It’s the law (seriously): http://articles.sfgate.com/2001-03-01/ne…
pet “rescue” organizations and “adoption” centers are just pet stores that have happy-smiley names so that people feel like they’re not actually buying a pet… they’re adopting or rescuing one (how noble!)
but of course, every rescue and adoption place require that you pay them mandatory “donations.”
So really, they’re just like every other pet store selling cats and dogs. If they were to start giving pets away for free, or if they made the “donations” TRULY voluntary, then I’d say they can legitimately call themselves pet adoptions or rescues. Until then, they’re just pet stores.
I rather take exception with “The city is doing some things right, however.” The city isn’t doing this initiative; PETA kooks are. The City of San Francisco isn’t going to come within a million miles of passing this.
Even though a very large portion of the dog-owning population isn’t going to be allowed to vote, because they’re homeless kids fresh off the bus.
The fish thing is stupid and is just another “OMG can you believe those commies in San Francisco?” items. But, as a whole, fuck animal breeders.
As a group, breeders have perpetuated the existence of animals doomed to a life of discomfort and painful maladies—issues that could be easily be bred out in a few generations—but they’d rather not, cause, you know, they might not sell for as much.
Not really the point of the current law I know, but just the same, fuck’em and their feigned concern for animal welfare.
Even as a vegan animal rights freak there’s no way I can get behind such legislation. But, I think PETA knows it’ll never pass and is putting it out there to make a point. And the IS a legit point to be made about the breeding and sale of certain animals when there are so many to adopt.
I really wish PETA would stop these silly, self-defeating stunts because they a)make the rest of us look bad b)are distracting from some real animal-related issues people should actually think about.
Even if you think this “goes too far”, the answer isn’t to do nothing. Amend it so it allows fish or birds if that’s the issue.
Seattle is bizarrely pro-animal cruelty, completely unique on the west coast. Even Fresno and Riverside are ahead of us on banning foie gras. Meanwhile, I can find nearly a dozen proud, packed foie gras restaurants within a few blocks on Capitol Hill, no protests, no government intervention.
@9 Actually, most rescue/adoption centers are very different from pet stores in that they re-home pets people discard for various reasons (often because of unrealistic expectations of that adorable puppy from the pet store or breeder). Sure, you pay an adoption fee, but there is no profit– the fees go toward vet care for the often neglected or abused animals they take in, food, toys, etc. Pet stores buy animals at wholesale from breeders/mills and sell them at/for a profit. I know, nuance is hard. And you pay either way, but unfortunately a lot of people do not value what they don’t pay for, even animals, so giving pets away for free isn’t necessarily helping them.
@10, it actually got past some level of gov’t committee: “… measure being pushed by San Francisco’s Animal Control and Welfare Commission” If it was just the PETA kooks it wouldn’t be that much news.
@13, that’s because foie gras is 1) not cruel, and 2) delicious. Please don’t cite that you can buy foie gras in a restaurant (just like the rest of the planet) as evidence Seattle is “bizarrely pro-animal cruelty”.
I know it’s fun to PETA-bash, you guys, but…
I worked in a pet store for a year in college. I’ll spare you the details, but it was bar none the worst job and the worst work experience generally I’ve ever had.
Imagine the type of disaffected burnout teenagers you picture working crappy low-end retail jobs. Think Clerks but, because of a sense of bored, hopeless desperation, borderline sociopathic instead of charming. Now imagine that you put those people in charge of the well-being of a whole bunch of living things, with only lip-service to corporate for accountability. Throw into the mix some of the shallowest, stupidest customers you’ve ever encountered, and you’ll start to understand the conditions that create what I can only describe as completely banal horror.
I did what I could to make the place better, both for the animals and to work in, but I eventually had a nervous breakdown and got myself fired. While I was there, we had a constant, appalling stream of dead or dying animals due to the neglect of the employees, the crappy housing and care products available to us, and the ignorance or sometimes outright malice of the customers.
I once had a woman throw a dead lionfish at me. Those are the stripey ones with all the venomous spines. She had bought it the previous day, when I was not working, and had no idea how to take care of a tropical marine fish. She killed it, of course, and when she came back and I pointed to the large, clearly visible “No refunds on saltwater animals” sign, she threw it at my head. I sidestepped, but only barely.
I worked in aquatics, so I didn’t catch the worst of it; fish are less charismatic than furry critters. I still got my share of people coming in and presenting me with some of the worst things I’ve ever seen. One woman, who I could barely understand because she half-shouted the entire time, literally kicked an emaciated puppy into the store, demanded to know why it had fleas and what we were going to do about it, and, when I pointed out that it was very sick and needed to go to a vet, ordered me to bring a veterinarian for her. When I called the nearest emergency vet and told them she was on her way, she kicked the puppy right back out again. I called the police and told them where she was headed.
So I guess what I’m saying is that I wholeheartedly support this proposal. The “pet industry” is an ongoing atrocity.
SF has done a lot of things “right”. We were way ahead in banning plastic bags.