San Francisco considers banning pet sales

Reba

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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.
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S.F. considers banning sale of pets except fish
 
The first comment-comment I have to make before saying anything else.. (I'm with Banjo :cool:)

Who the heck brings a bowl of goldfish to a shelter?!
 
I don't have a problem with this. It's very obvious to why they enacted such ordinance. People are irresponsible.

But don't get all hot and angry, pointing finger that it's fascism. Most of time - the ordinances like this do not pass but it's just to generate attention.
 
Hee hee.

They need to regulate the pet stores. I can guarantee you that the majority of pet stores buy puppies from the puppy mills. That's why they are cheap compared to the dogs you buy from the certified breeders.

We had to regulate it here in Ontario. As a result, it's now nearly impossible to find a puppy in a pet store. You would have to buy one from a backyard breeder or a certified breeder. You can adopt them at the humane society too.
 
I support rescue all the way. It is unlikely that will pass, but if it does it could help the shelters and have less pets euthanized due to lack of a home.
 
Banjo said:
Hee hee.

They need to regulate the pet stores. I can guarantee you that the majority of pet stores buy puppies from the puppy mills. That's why they are cheap compared to the dogs you buy from the certified breeders.

We had to regulate it here in Ontario. As a result, it's now nearly impossible to find a puppy in a pet store. You would have to buy one from a backyard breeder or a certified breeder. You can adopt them at the humane society too.
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Right, I have a feeling most pet stores are buying from some backyard mill in the first place.


Maybe if it passes it will turn the black market up in this, but at least I know the black market will likely sell quality that is better than the standard pet store.

I think it will still be legal to buy the pets from the paper classifieds, craiglists of the sort.
Besides lots of downtown metro SF is not an ideal place to live for pets that need their space anyway.
 
Wirelessly posted

I think they need to regulate pet store to prevent buyers getting pets for short time and giving them up. Put some tags so they can track down where and how long they were with that owner or something so they can better prevent from temporary stays with owners.
 
Banjo said:
What do you have to say about this, Reba?
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Rather than making a blanket city law against selling all pet animals I would prefer to see the emphasis on pet ownership education, and support for animal rescue organizations. I wouldn't be opposed to licensing and health/sanitation inspection of pet stores that sell live animals.
 
Jiro said:
I don't have a problem with this. It's very obvious to why they enacted such ordinance. People are irresponsible.
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Such an ordinance won't prevent pet ownership irresponsibility.

But don't get all hot and angry, pointing finger that it's fascism. Most of time - the ordinances like this do not pass but it's just to generate attention.
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No one except you has mentioned fascism. :lol:
 
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.
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:hmm:
 
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.
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:hmm:
 
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.
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:hmm:
 
Reba said:
Such an ordinance won't prevent pet ownership irresponsibility.
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better than nothing. I think this is a much more effective tactic to "scare" people into taking action. Perhaps it would make pet store owners to make sure that people are purchasing pets for a good reason.

Reba said:
No one except you has mentioned fascism. :lol:
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:lol: but I bet that's what their thought would be
 
Reba said:
Rather than making a blanket city law against selling all pet animals I would prefer to see the emphasis on pet ownership education, and support for animal rescue organizations. I wouldn't be opposed to licensing and health/sanitation inspection of pet stores that sell live animals.
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Wasn't this in Mallard just yesterday???? Kinda
 
You know what's really sad? That we aren't doing much to stop child-trafficking.
 
I say just flat out ban the sale of live animals from pet shops and any and all pets must be bought/sold through reputable breeders that hold a current license and have passed sanitation and health inspections by a local council. This is the norm for a lot of cities in Australia and it seems to work fairly well. They also limit the number of pets per household to four, which seems to be the norm.
 
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