San Fransisco new law propsal! No Pets!

[Jerry]

HollDoll can tell us more.

They seek to ban all pet ownership except fish!  Will they close the Zoo too!
If this happens a lot of people in the pet business will suffer.

yeah, this is a tad political, but imprtant to us.

[Loony]

Seriously?! That's one of the craziest things I've ever heard. Who are "they"?

[Jennie in MT]

That is nuts.  What happened to personal liberties?

I don't have kids.  I can't have kids.  It is a personal tragedy for us.  One way that we have coped is that we have dogs.  They are our kids!  LOL 

I bet the pet industry will but some big shots on this case.  Selling everything from pet food to pet apparel is big, big business, and they will not want to see a precedent like this set....

[Lynda]

The discussion is within the Animal Control Commission, and the proposal they're debating is to ban pet stores from selling pets - not ban people from owning them.  They've tabled the discussion until next month at the earliest, and they cannot do it on their own - it would have to go as a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors if they approve it at all, which is quite unlikely.  The proposal would force people to purchase pets out of the County or adopt from a shelter.  It's absurd and stupid, but not as outlandish as prohibiting the ownership of pets, period.  Sounds like a PETA idea - they generally get lots of press and publicity, but their insane ideas don't go anywhere...and the press and publicity is really what they're after.

[Jerry]

Well Lynda it looks like we helped them..  Id say they are crazy!

[Holldoll]

Lynda is correct. They are talking about banning the sell of pets in pet stores. I have a split opinion on it - because I don't believe in buying pets at a pet store, I can see why they are wanting to ban them, but on the other hand, San Francisco has a tendency of taking things WAY out of control!

[Lynda]

Like most things that sound too crazy to be true, this won't go anywhere but some news outlets will sure blow it up out of proportion...

I used to work as Chief of Staff to a Councilmember in a large Southern California city - you wouldn't believe how many crazy suggestions/demands I heard in a day; or how many times I had to patiently explain what the facts were as opposed to the nutty rumors someone had heard.  It was like the game of "Telephone" we played as children, multiplied by 1000.  I predict that this proposal will die quickly...but PETA and a few of the other "animal rights" groups will make a lot of noise about it first.

I must confress that I wouldn't be unhappy to see pet stores banned from the sale of dogs and cats, though...all of them come from puppy mills and most of the dogs and cats have health and/or behavioral issues.  I have purebreed dogs; all of mine come from breeder/owner/handlers who are dedicated to their breeds.  But to ban the sale of all animals is a massive over-reaction.

[LeeAnne151]

I have very mixed feelings about pet stores mostly negative feelings. Most here do not sell animals anymore and that is good. Too many don't properly take care of the animals or know how to advise the public. Far too many reptiles die. It is sad and many come from the wild not domestic breeding. Fish too. Many come right out of the Amazon basin or coral reefs.

Pet store puppies=puppy mills=severe animal cruelty and bad genetics almost every time.

There was a chain of pet stores closed down here recently (finally) after decades of animal abuse. You could smell the dirty rodent cages down the malls (they were often in malls) and they always had dead fish and I know more than one person who bought a puppy there that had parvo and another that genetic defects. For what they paid they could have had high quality dogs from a responsible breeder or at least three shelter dogs....

[Esther]

Maybe in stead of closing them down completely, there should be some regulation about where these stores get the animals they sell.

[tootsie]

I see the pets for sale at the mall store   The store will send one or two people to go out of the store with a puppy or kitten. Then you see them look for young children, so they can sa COME AND HOLD THIS  PUPPY/KITTEN, HE/ SHE WOULD LOVE TO GO HOME WITH YOU TODAY Oh, and lets not forget around Christmas time we see the commercials showing a toddler grasping a young pet in their arms! Yea and who if anyone takes care of pet? I am sorry, but I wish there would be  a ban on those stores too, and ban the darn commercials! 

[Esther]

Do they still sell pastel colored chickens and ducks at Easter?

[tootsie]

Hi Esther, haven't seen any in years! Just remember my two brothers going to the pet shop for some chicks.
They were purple, red, pink, and so were the baby bunnies   We kept the chicks, they grew into big white chickens, and two roosters! We had a huge back yard then, my parents let us keep them They would lay on their backs  every time we sat down outside.We would pet their bellies and they would all fall asleep 
Tootsie