Banning Sale of Pets? More San Francisco Wackiness...

[Webmaster]

Unbelievable! Would someone please tell me why anyone would choose to live in such an utterly screwed up place? More importantly, why do you keep reelecting the same old nutcases to run your city? Now, just watch... with a new study showing that fish talk to each other, how before sale of fish is outlawed?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MN9L1EAT90.DTL

S.F. considers banning sale of pets except fish
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 8, 2010

Sell a guinea pig, go to jail.

That's the law under consideration by San Francisco's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare. If the commission approves the ordinance at its meeting tonight, San Francisco could soon have what is believed to be the country's first ban on the sale of all pets except fish.

That includes dogs, cats, hamsters, mice, rats, chinchillas, guinea pigs, birds, snakes, lizards and nearly every other critter, or, as the commission calls them, companion animals.

"People buy small animals all the time as an impulse buy, don't know what they're getting into, and the animals end up at the shelter and often are euthanized," said commission Chairwoman Sally Stephens. "That's what we'd like to stop."

San Francisco residents who want a pet would have to go to another city, adopt one from a shelter or rescue group, or find one through the classifieds.

The Board of Supervisors would have final say on the matter. But not before pet store owners unleash a cacophony of howling, squeaking and squawking.

"It's terrible. A pet store that can't sell pets? It's ridiculous," said John Chan, manager of Pet Central on Broadway, which has been in business 30 years. "We'd have to close."
'Terrible for our business'

Joe Taylor, bird manager of Animal Connection on Judah Street, called the proposal "ludicrous."

"What difference does it make if you get a parrot at the SPCA or a pet store? If it doesn't work out, in either case, you just bring it back," Taylor said. "This would be terrible for our business."

The idea originated about two years ago, when the commission began looking into a ban on dog and cat sales as a way to discourage puppy and kitten mills. But the city's animal control staff said that excess puppies and kittens are not the problem at the city shelter, thanks to the plethora of rescue groups. In any case, only one or two pet stores in San Francisco sell dogs and cats. The rest stick to small animals.
The hamster problem

The real problem, staff said, is hamsters.

People buy the high-strung, nocturnal rodents because they're under the temporary impression that hamsters are cute and cuddly. But the new owners quickly learn that hamsters are, in fact, prone to biting, gnawing through expensive wiring and maniacally racing on their exercise wheels at 2 a.m.

So the animals end up at the shelter. Just about every species has its own rescue group in San Francisco, but no one seems to want hamsters. Hamsters are the No. 1 animal euthanized at the city's shelter, said San Francisco Animal Care and Control director Rebecca Katz.

"It's definitely a concern," she said. "They're an impulse buy, and we do sometimes get tons of them, especially babies."
Committed owners

On Wednesday, the shelter, which is on 15th Street in the Mission District, had six hamsters, nine rabbits, nine mice, nine rats, two guinea pigs, a bowl of goldfish, two birds, a leopard gecko, a bearded dragon and a hermit crab named Charlie.

But those shelter hamsters almost certainly did not originate at a pet store, said Michael Maddox, general counsel for the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council in Washington, D.C.

Studies by UC Davis and the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy have shown that only a small fraction of shelter animals were purchased at pet stores, he said. People who buy animals at pet stores are just as committed, emotionally and financially, to caring for their pets as people who procure pets elsewhere, he said.

"This is an anti-pet proposal from people who oppose the keeping of pets," he said. "If their goal is to ban the ownership of pets entirely, then this is a good first step."

The commission plans to listen to testimony from pet store owners, among others, before voting. Among the items it will consider is the impact on small businesses, whether to allow the sale of feeder rodents for snakes and other reptiles, the sale of fish, owner education, penalties and rescue groups that host adoptions at pet stores.

"We're still in the information-gathering phase," said Commissioner Philip Gerrie, who is sponsoring the proposal. "We're trying to get at the problem of people buying these creatures with the best intentions, but then the reality turns out quite different."
Meeting tonight

San Francisco's Commission of Animal Control and Welfare meets at 5:30 p.m. today at City Hall, Room 408, to consider an ordinance banning the sale of pets, except for fish, in San Francisco.

-- For more information, go to sfgate.com/ZJYO.
Euthanized pets in S.F.

13% Percentage of dogs and cats at the San Francisco animal shelter that are euthanized, including aggressive, injured and sick animals.

35% Percentage of dogs and cats in shelters nationwide that are euthanized.

30% Percentage of hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits and other small animals at the San Francisco shelter that are euthanized.

Source: San Francisco Animal Care and Control

E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.

[Erik]

This is insane and will never pass.

Robert - you've got to be the most latently jealous person I know! San Francisco is an awesome city! Now I know you know this deep inside BUT you don't want to admit it because it may cause a whole flood of deeply suppressed emotion to start coming out.

Come on, admit it...

Debra - help me out here!

[Webmaster]

Robert - you've got to be the most latently jealous person I know! San Francisco is an awesome city! Now I know you know this deep inside BUT you don't want to admit it because it may cause a whole flood of deeply suppressed emotion to start coming out.

Believe what you will, and you can go on continuing to delude yourself into thinking that deep-down I actually love San Francisco. At one time, it was a jewel of a city. Now it's a city that represses the freedom of it's citizens on one hand, and turns a blind eye to other things that are genuinely wrong. The place now makes me want to throw up.

[Erik]

The place now makes me want to throw up.

That's because you were drinking too much at 1015 Folsom (a club that used to be "it").

[starkjudo]

That's because you were drinking too much at 1015 Folsom (a club that used to be "it").

San Francisco would be a nice place to visit, but live there? How the hell could I or anyone else afford it?

[AllanJGAnderson]

San Francisco would be a nice place to visit, but live there? How the hell could I or anyone else afford it?

I visited last week. Can safely say I have no desire to ever go there again

[Rasputin]

I see this as a blatant anti-fishist movement. So now only fish are allowed to be sold; everybeing else has the right to escape the unholy bondage of pet-ness?

I'm calling the ACLU. Followed by PETA.

[Abbax8]

The real problem, staff said, is hamsters.

This says it all. Why are people even discussing hamsters?

Dennis

[Webmaster]

The real problem, staff said, is hamsters.

This says it all. Why are people even discussing hamsters?

Dennis

Hamsters, Gerbils.... we are talking about San Francisco Dennis.

[David Craik]

In a strange way, I can kind of see the logic. I'm a big proponent of getting pets from a shelter or foster home. These animals need caring homes. The most insanely loyal, friendly, and obedient dogs I've had were rescued animals that were criminally neglected, unwanted, or horribly abused. I get the old ones, the blind ones, or the lame animals because I know few else will take them. Even if one is not willing to give the extra care required, there are beautiful healthy animals in the shelter that need homes too.

But I'm not sure the source will make any difference. I think perhaps their heart is in the right place but their logic is flawed. If people later don't want the animal it will be discarded or returned, just the same as if it were bought from a pet store. Because people basically suck, you can't legislate them into not being sh*theads.

My daughter has had a few hamsters and fish. But she knows that if she wants an animal, she's damn well taking care of it. It won't be returned. It's a great tool for teaching responsibility, and if it is failed then there won't be any more pets. But responsibility and obligation seem to be dying concepts today.

[Abbax8]

We have three dogs and a cat. Two of the dogs are from a shelter, the cat is from a shelter, the third dog adopted us while we were on vacation, it came up out of the bay area of the Outer Banks while we were packing looking like some diseased filled creature from the Black Lagoon. We tried to track down the owners, placed ads, etc. After a month I gave up and told the family he was ours. A more faithful, smart and nice dog you won't find, the other animals are also great additions to our families.

However, this legislation will do as much to stop animal cruelty and abandonment as gun laws stop criminals from buying guns.

Dennis